Looking through Parish Records

[suebadger]

Hello

I'm about to try my first visit to a records office and intend to look up some baptisms etc. What I want to do is find a birth/christening and then trace the parents marriage. After that I hope to then find their births etc.

Could somebody give me an idea if this plan of action is feasible. As I have never done a PR look up and have only seen it on Who Do You Think You Are they seem to be able to go from one to the other. I'm not that naive to not realise someone has dug them out beforehand but just the same is it possible for a minian?

Thank You

Sue

[kerryb]

Hi Sue

The first thing to note is the parish where the christening took place.  From there you should be able to find the marriage and baptisms of parents.  But and there's always a but it depends whether the parents were born and married and then had their children in the same parish.

I don't know whether you are going to look at microfiche or registers.  I've been to my local record office a few times now and have been lucky in that I can look at books, so I take them out one parish at a time and make sure I know what parishes are in the vicinity.

Anyway have a great time and good luck.  You will enjoy your first visit and it won't be long before you want another!

Kerry

[julianb]

I don't know how common the surnames are that you'll be looking for, but when I was looking for Carters and Ponds (quite common names in the locality), I made a table  where I jotted down all the baptisms of children of that name, and recorded dates, details of parents and any other info.  I could then look for links by family after I'd gathered all the data.

And, as Kerry said, I hope you enjoy your first archives trip.

[tazzie]

   Hi Sue......

  Couple of things to add....if you need to read the registers on film or fiche it may help to ring ahead and book a reader. I have been very lucky the last two weeks on my visits and had the whole ancestry dept to myself...but on other days I have had to snatch 1/2 an hour and try to search.
 As Julian says ...jot down any occurance of the names of interest if they fall in the same time frame. Note all dates clearly and you will be able to relate the families. For years I missed the obvious. We had a Hannah living as youngest child on a census. All others baptised to Francis and Mary.
 It was only after looking at all baptisms for the family name we found her. Hannah was the first child of Francis' brother whose wife had died soon after.
Francis even had her down as his daughter in his will.
  They will have lots available and you will be itching to go again.

   Have fun and happy hunting

                    Tazzie

[lizdb]

One littlepoint that may or not be helpful. remeber to look at neibouring parishes too.

We have several families who, for some reason or other, had the odd child chrisitened in the next parish, or a burial or whatever.
In practice it was just across the fields, but with todays more defined towns and roads it seems like they went further.

Maybe they just didnt like the current vicar at their usual church, or gave another church a try for a bit because they had friends there, or something.

but worth a scout round, while you are at the records office.

[suebadger]

Thanks to all for your replies!

I've hopefully taken all the comments on board and can't wait to get going. I will book ahead to make sure of a reader or to find out if they are in the book format. I intend to book two days in a row as it's a long drive and it may take more than a day for the searching. There are three different families I need to research from different times. From your experience is it okay to book two days and also is it okay to cancel the second if I miraculously find what I need on day one?

Thanks again

Sue

[panda40]

Hi Sue
I once met a lady over from Australia who was touring around england doing parish records research. She had booked a week at each venue. It gets a bit tedious reading the films after while so allow plenty of breaks. Also be prepared for dissapointment. I have the name of the child and found the baptism record no problem but the parish clerk had entered Samuel Austin and wife, no other details. This was the same for all the entries in the register. Without the mothers name I could not confirm I had the right marriage as there were more than one Samuel Austin to choose between. The parish clerks entered as much or as little details as they wished. Others give the occupation as well.  Good luck with your research and enjoy your time there. Its the best bit of tracing your family history seeing the records that were written so long ago.
Regards panda

[Guy Etchells]

Hang on a minute you mention it being a long drive, why not make use of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) catalogue first.

If there is a LDS family history center near you you could order the microfilms/fiche there (minimal cost) rather than make the long trip.
There will of course be a wait for the film/fiche to arrive but it could be a better option.

You can check the catalogue on line at
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp
Cheers
Guy

[jinks]

If your going to the record office dont forget your
proof of ID, Mine requires only one proof some require
two driving licence or recent bill.

Also no PENS allowed so take a pencil

Jinks