Family Tree - UK Tracing - Part 2

[Chas]

The next website is freereg. All the parish registers - includes Scotland.

http://www.freereg.org.uk/

This goes hand in hand with freebmd. Whereas it might take two or more months to officially register a birth, marriage or death, a parish record was immediate. Mainly because someone else was doing the work. Part of the procedure for the vicar was to fill out the Parish Record and not the bride, groom, father, mother or grieving relative.

Unlike Registration Districts, which cover a vast area, the Parish Registers cover a comparatively small area. Many villages are within easy walking distances and young men will walk a long way to see a pretty face. Every village had a church; every church had a parish and every parish had Parish Records. Towns might very well have two or three parishes. So the best way is a good atlas or gazetteer or Google maps or some such.

This is a vast repository of information, but can be patchy. It all came down to the vicar at the time and local customs and practice. Today every live birth is recorded, but at one time births of babies that did not survive more than a week, two weeks, 28 days, might not be recorded.

Parish registers can hold a lot of information - or next to nothing. Again down to the vicar.

Things to look for:
In marriage records, did the couple sign the record or did they make their mark. That is to say, could they read and write or were they illiterate?
Again in marriages, married by licence or by banns? By licence, means the couple can marry immediately. By banns can take up to three months. Makes a lot of difference if the girl is pregnant or if one day there might be an inheritance.

Illegitimate births reflect thinking at the time. The kindest entry is 'spinster' after the mother's name, but I have seen 'illegitimate', 'bastard' and 'bears the sign of Satan for all eternity', against some children's names.

Like all these record, cut down the search parameters, other wise you might have thousands of records to wade through.

Regards

Chas

[English Bloke]

Again very useful.

Cheers Chas me 'ol mate.