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Ancestry Daily News
2/28/2002 - Archive
The British CDs: Checking Out English Parish Registers
If you follow an International Genealogical Index entry through to the microfilm
copy of the register, and if you habitually read further than simply the relevant
entries for your ancestors, then you may have come across some of the fascinating
details noted by long dead ministers and parish clerks. The Yorkshire (East
Riding) CD is a good one for demonstrating what turns up in parish registers.
I began playing around with words, much like I described in the previous column,
and combined that with simply browsing forward and backward within the records
of individual parishes. This particular CD is a copy of printed transcripts,
not only of entries recording baptisms, marriages and burials, but of anything
else the local officials chose to record. Most common are the added details
of place of abode and occupation. It looks like some parishes entered an occupation
when it was something other than laborer. I spotted lots of blacksmiths and
cordwainers, and a fidler [sic]. That was interesting, so I tried it in the
Search Wizard. The records mention ten fidlers, and three of these instances
are surnames.
Unusual and accidental deaths usually prompted a written note; e.g., at Brantlingham,
18 January 1811, Mary Chapman age nineteen was killed when hit in the head by
someone trying to shoot pigeons. There are many fatal accidents involving children
and violence crops up occasionally. Keywords such as 'killed,' 'drowned,' or
'burned' will turn up other tragic ends.
In several parishes, after the burials, are lists of collections taken in response
to appeals for financial help - for poor people in the parish, for victims of
fire, for those left with nothing after severe storms. What is interesting is
how far away the charity was sent, Kent and Wales being among many areas mentioned.
Some donations went further than that, for appeals were made to help sailors
captive in Algiers, and in 1667 for two men held as slaves in Turkey. It was
not much money; repeatedly, registers state that a collection of brass farthings
(quarter-penny) and half-pennies was taken, and the totals were just a few shillings
(20 shillings to the pound).
I have tried to imagine people who had never left a rural Yorkshire parish listening
to the minister's sermon on Sunday, and his announcement that a special collection
would be taken. There wasn't much cash about--who contributed to the six shillings
collected for those two slaves in Turkey?
There are a couple dozen parish registers on this CD, most for the period before
1813. In a mathematical analysis it does not look like much, about 10 percent
of the whole of the East Riding. On the other hand, if one of your parishes
is here, it can be the ticket to much more than a handful of baptisms, marriages,
and burials. Exploring the contents will catch your imagination and tell you
relevant things. Surely the news of an earthquake in Cherry Burton in 1687 spread
across the region! The burial of Thomas Cletheray in 1602 reminds us that failure
to attend services of the Established Church had consequences even past death.
"Thomas Cletheray a recusant of the North Blockhouse was put into his grave
in Drypoll Churchyard the 07 Mar, by the meanes of Henry Garrat without the
minister & without the order of buriall according to lawe." (Drypool Parish
Registers, Vol. 1)
This man's descendents are fortunate; many nonconformists buried by friend or
neighbors were never entered into the register.
Vital events are the backbone of any family history, but just as most of us
are interested in rounding out the facts with snippets of character and details
of setting, so the records themselves can reveal more. Trolling through the
past is something none of us would have contemplated prior to fully searchable
databases.
NOTE: The Yorkshire (East Riding) CD is available from The Shops @ Ancestry.com
and is on sale today: www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=P2480
More ENGLISH, SCOTTISH, and IRISH PARISH RECORDS are available from The Shops
@ Ancestry.com at: shops.ancestry.com/subcat.asp?shopid=126&catid=520
Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) has been researching her British ancestry
for thirty years. She founded Interlink Bookshop and Genealogical Services (www.interlinkbookshop.com)
in 1988; she currently lectures in Canada and the United States and is president
of the Association of Professional Genealogists. You can e-mail Sherry with
suggestions for future British genealogy articles at sherryirvine55@myfamily.com.
She will not be able to send personal replies, but will feature some questions
in upcoming issues of the Ancestry Daily News. Sherry also regrets that
she is unable to assist with personal research. Sherry is also the author of:
Your Scottish Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=P1046
Your English Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=P1045
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