Genealogy Chat

Can anyone tell me please what is the easiest and cheapest way of searching Parish Records? :-)

I am particularly interested in Bath and Bath Weston. Thank you.

Have you tried

https://familysearch.org/

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

If you have an LDS Family History Centre near to where you live then they are great places to look at parish records. If they don't keep the records that you are interested in they will order them for you on microfishe or microfilm and keep them for for about a month to give you time to view them. It only costs a few pounds to do this and the staff at all the centres are very helpful.

There are some parish records online on Findmypast.

Kath. x

Or try googling

http://www.batharchives.co.uk/family_history/parish_registers.aspx

Or
http://wsom-opc.org.uk/

Thank you jax and Kathleen for such quick responses. Any additional thoughts would also be very welcome. :-)

Thank you, Ken.

Owen - not parish records but take this e.g. from the GRO index:
Births Sep 1837
PAINE Female Bath 11 11

There's a local index for Bath which is always worth checking.
Here's what is says at: http://www.bathbmd.org.uk/

Bath Birth indexes for the years: 1837
Surname Forename(s) Sub-District Registers At Mother's Maiden Name Reference
PAINE (girl) Daughter Of Henry Batheaston Bath HANHAM BEA/1/004

You could try, On line Parish Clerks.

My thanks to mgnv and AlanOnTheWirral as well for making the effort to help me. Thanks again.

The only serious way of searching parish records is to visit your nearest record office, very few records have been transcribed for viewing via the net.
Dave

I do not think that is quite correct David

I have managed to find quite a lot on my family without stepping outside of my front door.

what about the people who live abroad ?
are they expected to get a flight over to the UK?

David ...............


I think you are not quite correct in what you say

The number of parish records you can find on the internet is quite incredible.

I grant you, some counties in England are better than others .............

Lancashire OPC are fantastic!



It is quite amazing what I have found in the form of Parish Records, going all the way back to the 16th century for some ancestors ....................... all without having to pay for a trip back to England





Please be careful about saying that "the only serious way of searching parish records is to visit your nearest record office" .................


.............. it comes over as a slap in the face for those of us who are serious researchers but do not live in the UK.

Visiting your nearest record office is only useful if some of your family come from the same county.

However if they do then the amount of information available at the record office is so much more than is currently on the web.

Also even where transcriptions are available on the internet there are often no supporting images which can be really useful in resolving issues.

Ken

I agree with you that going to the original source, and seeing the original documents, is the best, and preferable, way .................



but not all of us can do that!



It is not only people like myself who live overseas, but also those who live at teh other end of the UK from their ancestors, or the elderly and housebound who could not probably even get to their local record office without great difficulty.


Those 3 categories account for a large percentage of GR members ................



I still maintain that one has to be very careful about stating "the only serious way is ......"



.................. it came over as insulting the standard of research done by those who could not visit the local office

Yes I see your point Sylvia. Indeed I am fortunate that the Cornish images are on-line and free as well as transcriptions, as 25% of my family is from that area.

Hopefully David did not mean it to be or sound insulting.

Ken .............

Hopefully, he did not mean it that way ................................


but as he has not returned I (we) have no way of knowing for sure.


Like you, I am very fortunate that Lancashire opc are on-line and free .................. I think that at least 25% of my family is from there.

Unfortunately, not all the images are online, but at least the transcribed version is on http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Search/indexp.html


I also occasionally get help from Lancs opc for one of OH's ancestral lines that moved back and forth from Lancashire to Westmorland with great regularity. They were mainly Quakers and so subject to discrimination, hence the moving ............. but they did get married, baptised and buried in the CofE

Also have you looked to see what the Bath and Avon Family History Society holds.

I used to be a member, and of all the FHS' I joined this was by far the best.

They have a great website, very user friendly.

Thank you for the tip, DazedConfused - I haven't tried that one either.