Pallot's Index had its beginnings in the early 1800s, with the creation
of an English firm of heir searchers. Subsequently it became the property of
Messrs Pallot and Co. who gave the index its name. Today, Pallot's Index belongs
to the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies at Canterbury, Kent. They
made it available for consultation at their library or allowed searches for
a fee. Recently, Ancestry.com has joined with the Institute to produce the index
on CD-ROM and offer it through the Ancestry.com databases online.
At one time, Pallot's Index was much larger. Unfortunately, it suffered severe
damage during World War II. What survives is roughly 1.5 million references
to marriages and 200,000 references to births. It is the marriages, which are
most useful, for London and environs in particular; there are entries for 101
of the 103 ancient parishes. Of the county marriages, there are listings for
thirty-eight counties, and for nine of these more than one hundred parishes
are represented in the index: Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Leicestershire,
Middlesex/London, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Somerset, and Yorkshire
is close behind with ninety- three. Probably less than half of all parishes
have been indexed for the full fifty-seven years, most are 1790 to 1812.
Before you begin, read the booklet that comes with the CD and then turn to
the Ancestry View 'Help' feature for other questions. A basic search is simple
- mainly a matter of entering a surname in the field at the top of the screen
and selecting 'Go'. At the lower right is displayed the total number of hits
on view. Work your way through them by clicking on 'Next' in the toolbar at
the top and watch the numbers advance. You can put in name variants one by one
or make use of wild card symbols.
In the simple marriage search, pay attention to the display of results because
listings for the targeted name do not necessarily come first. The place of those
listings is wherever they fit in alphabetical order of all results that match
the search criteria; e.g., a request for marriage entries of people named Worthington
will first show surnames of spouses beginning with letters A through V. In addition,
my experiments with several names show there is not necessarily a complete duplication
of entries - checking only those within the list of individuals with the selected
surname may not find every event.
I recommend using the advanced search option because of several added features.
There is the advantage of adding more facts (parents or spouse's name, place,
year) and of viewing the flow chart of results. The best way to explain this
is with an example. Put in Smith alone and there are over 51,000 names; Baker
nets about 8400. Enter 'Smith and Baker' in the surname field and you see how
many thousands of each surname are in the database and that they appear together
125 times. Add a first name or first names and the numbers drop even more. The
beauty of this system is that you watch a diagrammatic representation of any
combination of fields. In addition, you can look for only first names - there
is no requirement to input a surname - a real asset when the first name is unusual.
Another feature is the ability to browse the entries of one parish; enter a
place name in the parish field and leave the others blank. For some large urban
parishes there are tens of thousands, but for others, such as Swyre in Dorset
(not in the IGI) there are just 112 marriages. The computer does not group records,
you must use the 'Next' button to advance through the hits. To narrow the search,
you can combine the parish name with a specific year but not a range of years.
This inability to search by year range is a shortcoming; however, as an alternative,
you can tag and print entries of interest.
Every record display looks the same, the name of child or spouse No.1, name
of parents or spouse No.2, date and parish name. At the top, if you are hooked
up to the Internet, it is possible to select 'Check here to view this image
online.'
As you search, watch what happens in the source window on the left. All you
see at first is a list of letters of the alphabet with numbers, plus signs and
boxes beside them. The numbers indicate how the hits are distributed through
the alphabet. Select a plus sign and you see the surnames involved; click on
a name to go to that entry. Check a box and it is possible to print a list of
all the entries for that surname.
Pallot's Indexes to marriages and baptisms are also accessible through a subscription
to (Ancestry's UK/Ireland Collection).
Search techniques are quite different and will be discussed in another article.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Shops @ Ancestry.com currently have both Pallot's Baptism
Index, and Pallot's Marriage Index on sale today. See the Products of the Day
at the end of the newsletter for details.
Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) has been researching her British ancestry for
thirty years. She is an instructor and study tour leader for Samford University's
IGHR, and teaches for the online family history program of Vermont College.
She is President of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
You can e-mail Sherry with suggestions for future British genealogy articles
at: mailto: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
Ancestry Daily News
