WHAT’S IN YOUR PARISH CHEST
The “Parish Chest”, with its three locks, was used to
store not only the registers of baptisms, marriages and burials but also a
great variety of other records produced by and for assorted parish officials.
The office of churchwarden is an ancient one, but between the
sixteenth and the nineteenth century, the parish gradually became more involved
in the local government of their area, especially where manorial control was
weak. Over the centuries, various acts of parliament also increased parish
responsibility, such as the maintenance of the poor, highways, law and order,
etc.
The majority of these records are to be found in the local
diocesan (county) record offices. However, their survival depended not only
upon the local mouse population, but also the housekeeping enthusiasm of
various people keen to clear away old ‘rubbish’.
This talk aims to introduce you to some of those parish
officials and the records they produced - with special emphasis on those
sources which include personal names.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY / BOOK LIST
BASIC FACTS SERIES:
... using BAPTISM Records
for FH, P M LITTON (FFHS, 1996)
... using MARRIAGE Records for FH, PM
LITTON & CR CHAPMAN (FFHS, 1996)
... using DEATH & BURIAL Records
for FH, L GIBBENS (FFHS, 2nd, 1999)
T BENTON: Irregular Marriage in London
before 1754 (SOG, 1993)
BOURNE & CHICKEN: Records of the Church of
England (1991)
C R CHAPMAN: Sin, Sex and Probate: Ecclesiastical Courts,
Officials & Records (Lochin Pubs, 1992)
T V H FITZHUGH: Dictionary of
Genealogy, (A & C BLACK, 4th, 1994)
W FOOT: Maps for Family History -
Readers' Guide no.9 (PRO, 1994)
GIBSON Guide: Bishops' Transcripts &
Marriage Licences (FFHS, 5th, 2000)
GIBSON Guide: Marriage & Census
& other Indexes (FFHS, 8th, 2000)
GIBSON Guide: Specialist Indexes for
family historians (FFHS, 2nd, 2000)
INTRODUCTION SERIES:
... to Poor
Law Documents before 1834, A COLE (FFHS, 2nd, 2000)
... to Church Registers,
L GIBBENS (FFHS, 1997)
LDS CHURCH: The I.G.I. - on microfiche, CD-ROM or
Web-site (various dates)
E L C MULLINS: Texts & Calendars (RHS, 2 vols,
1958 & 1983) - Parish registers, etc. in print
E L NICHOLS: The
International Genealogical Index, 1992 ed (SOG, 1995)
S RAYMOND: English
Genealogy (FFHS, 3rd, 1996)
S RAYMOND: Genealogical Bibliography - by
county (FFHS, various dates).
J RICHARDSON: Local Historian's Encyclopedia,
(Historical Publications Ltd, 1993)
M E BRYANT ROSIER: Index to Parishes in
Phillimore's Marriage Registers (FTM, 1991)
P SAUL: The Family Historian's
ENQUIRE WITHIN (FFHS, 5th, 1995)
IHGS: Parish Register Maps - English
counties, Wales (3) & Scotland (12) (IHGS)
SOG: County Sources at the
Society of Genealogists, by county (various dates)
SOG: Marriage Licences:
Abstracts & Indexes in SOG Library (LS-2) (SOG, 1991)
SOG: List of
Parishes in Boyd's Marriage Index (LS-3) (SOG, 1994)
SOG: National Index of
Parish Registers - series, by county
W E TATE: The Parish Chest (Phillimore
1946, 1983)
WILTS. FHS: The Compleat Parish Officer (Wilts FHS, facsimile
reprint [1774] 1996)
WILTS. FHS: The Handy Book of Parish Law (Wilts FHS,
facsimile reprint)
Abbreviations
IGI - International Genealogical Index
IHGS -
Institute of Heraldic & Genealogical Studies
NIPR - National Index of
Parish Registers
SOG - Society of Genealogists
Jean DEBNEY (May 2001)
8 Huckleberry Close, Purley on Thames,
Reading, Berks RG8 8EH
Tel: 0118 941 3223; e-mail
<jeandebney@onename.demon.co.uk> |
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