sending for parish records e.c.t.

[nora T]

just thought i would  tell about  sending for parish records ,i sent to staffordshire archives, for a marriage record of 1784, whitmore church. i got the catalog no. and application form from the staffordshire- stoke on trent web site. the price for a search is £19 an hour,in half hour bits,and you have to put your maximum time limmit, i put one and half hours, about £30.i got a letter saying it might take 1 - 2 weeks, that was o.k. two weeks later i got an e mail from them , they had the record , and could i send a cheque for ,half hour search ,£9-50, copy, 30 pence, postage 30 pence,total £10-10 pence, i was very pleased ,it was a lot less than i expected,so i thought i would let others know, that staffordshire county archives do not rip you off, and make up a big price.and i hope other counties,do the same. regards. nora T

[Kazza]

Nora,

Thanks for that information,  it will be interesting for those who have not delved into this area before to hear of your experience.  It can be a bit daunting putting yourself into their hands and waiting weeks before you find out what you owe them.

If anyone else has a comment on their experiences using a county archive search service,  reply to this message and share it with us,

Kazza.

[nora T]

thanks ,kazza, i hope it will be useful,and while i am on the subject, i thought i would tell about my sending for BMD,certs.i have sent for loads of them , and without exception, every one , has come back by return of post,and because i always put a covering letter with the application form,e.g. [iam hoping this is my g,granny age about 94] if it is the wrong person, they send the cheque back, and on the complement slip, they write [this person is a child or a spinster ect.] so i dont waste my money on useless certificates.thanks again kazza. regards to all nora T

[Kazza]

Thank you Nora,

That is a very good tip for the beginner,  whan sending for certificates put in a covering letter,  as well as your application form,  hopefully you can avoid wasting money on obvious non-contenders for G-Granny. 

Any more experiences/tips welcome on this thread. 

Kazza.

[nora T]

thanks again kazza,i just hope it helps save people a few pounds, regards nora T

[Darcy]

Hi All 

I can thoroughly recommend Lincolnshire Archives.

I first applied to them for my 2nd Great grandfather's baptism
details. When the details arrived there was a note to say that as I had provided the exact date of the baptism from the IGI there would be no charge.

I have since applied for several baptisms and marriages. The most I have paid is 6.50 sterling ( sorry, no pound sign on Australian keyboards )

In one case the Parish Register showed that my 3rd Great grandfather had been married before. The Heritage Assistant searched the marriage records for the whole of Lincolnshire looking for his first marriage. This was unsuccessful but she did find the baptism of his daughter.
She also checked the burial register for his first wife. From this information I was able to discover that his first wife had died in childbirth aged 21 years and the baby had died at 17 weeks. There was no charge for the extra searches.

Lincolnshire Archives have the lowest rates of any county I have tried - and there is no need to give a time frame - it's 6.50 for a lookup of their Parish Records - full stop!

Regards,
Aaron








 

[nora T]

hello aaron. thats very good going , i thought staffordshire was cheap, at £19 an hour, and the fact they were honest , if they only did a half  hour search,they only charged £9 50. but i have just applied to them again, they found the marriage i was after in 1784,but i gave them a cataloge no.then. this time THEY suggested they could do further reasearch, for baptisms  ect. and i have given them nothing to go on only the research they have already done. i hope i am still so pleased with them at stafford when i get the bill. i will let the site know when,i get the results, but i dont think any county can beat your lincolnshire at £6 50 , i wish i needed to research there. regards nora T

[Darcy]

Hello nora T 

good to hear from you. I do hope you get plenty of information from your latest search and it doesn't break the bank!

I have been really lucky with information received from Lincolnshire Archives but I think my luck is about to change. I am about to apply to Cambridgeshire for details of a burial. I can't remember off hand how much it is but I think about 20 pounds per hour.

The thing is, there is an asterisk at the burial which denotes - 'more than the usual information on the parish register' - now who, among us, could resist that???
 
Regards,
Aaron.

[nora T]

hello again aaron, it does sound very tempting, the more than usual information, nobody could resist that, i just hope the price is right  for you . but i dont think any where could be as cheap as lincolnshire, any way fingers crossed, and i hope the info is as good as it sounds, bye for now, regards. nora T