This week I had a chance to take a new CD-ROM for a "test
drive." S&N Genealogy Supplies recently released "London Parish
Records, Volumes 1 – 10" on a CD-ROM disk and kindly lent me a copy.
This new CD-ROM allows you to browse, search, and print pages from all ten volumes
of the London Parish Records that S&N publishes, including the Marriage
Licences CD. The parishes covered are:
-
St James, Duke's Place 1664-1837 (four volumes)
-
St Dionis Backchurch 1538-1754
-
St Peter's Cornhill 1538-1774 (two volumes)
-
Knightsbridge and Holy Trinity 1658-81
The CD-ROM contains images of more than four thousand pages of
previously published books. The books are standard genealogy references, printed
in the late 1800s and very early 1900s. The CD-ROM contains approximately two
hundred thousand names with dates. It is fully searchable.
I inserted the London Parish Records CD-ROM disk into my Windows
computer and was looking at transcribed records within a minute or so. The images
on this CD-ROM are in Adobe Acrobat format, an excellent selection.
I already had the Adobe Acrobat reader installed on my computer,
so I did not need to install any software. However, all the required software
is included on the CD-ROM disk for Windows 3.1, 95, 98, ME, NT and 2000. In
addition, Macintosh users and many UNIX/Linux users can download Adobe Acrobat
software from Adobe’s Web site at no charge. I suspect this CD-ROM will
work perfectly on Macintosh as well as Linux and some UNIX systems, although
I did not text that myself, and S&N Genealogy Supplies makes no mention
of that in their literature.
Using the CD-ROM was easy, although a bit primitive. I found that
I could leaf through the books, one page at a time. In short, it was about the
same as using a printed book, only I used my computer’s mouse to instead
of an index finger to "turn pages." The software also allows for searches
on names. I entered a few common surnames, and the software quickly found those
names within the pages of these ten volumes.
The format of the books varied a bit from volume to volume. However,
they mostly contained names and dates extracted from the various parish registers.
Many entries were short and simple, such as "1656 April 3 – Arthur
Sparkes and Mary North" (were married). However, many of the entries also
had extensive footnotes. For instance, the record for Arthur Sparkes and Mary
North was annotated, "According to Chauncey (Hist. Herts) he was an utter
barrister of the Middle Temple, Deputy to the King’s Remembrancer in the
Exchequer, Steward of the borough of Hertford, a J.P. for the County, and M.P.
for the borough in 1666; and she eldest dau. and coheir of Hugh North, of Marden,
in the parish of Tewin, in that county. Their second son, Arthur, born 1 March
1661-2 and died 12 Jan. 1665-6, and was buried at St. Andrews, Hertford."
In short, this is excellent genealogy reference material.
The software included with the London Parish Records CD-ROM allows
the user to quickly zoom in and out when the pages are displayed on the screen.
I found the pages easy to read, even when a bit smudged in the original. I also
was able to print pages easily on my local printer. The resultant printed pages
generally looked better than photocopies of the original books.
While you can search for particular words on the CD-ROM, remember
that what you see on your screen is an image of a page from the original book.
You cannot "cut-and-paste" text from the CD-ROM into your genealogy
program or word processor; you will have to re-type the data, as I did when
writing above about Arthur Sparkes and Mary North.
The London Parish Records on CD-ROM is an excellent resource for
anyone researching ancestors there in the 1600s and 1700s. The material has
been available on paper for some time and at a rather high price. The CD-ROM
version is easier to search, takes up less shelf space, and only costs £99.75
– about $160 in U.S. funds.
For more information about the London Parish Records on CD-ROM
or to order the new CD-ROM disk online via credit card using a secure and safe
Web order form, go to: www.genealogy.demon.co.uk.
Dick Eastman Online
