Genealogy Chat

I've now got to the stage with my research which means I need to access parish records for a couple of different areas. Can anyone tell me if there is anyway of accessing them without actually visiting the local records office. Is it the sort of thing you can buy on a data cd? All help & advice gratefully received! Nikki

Nikki, Durham Parish Records are available on line at durhamrecordsonline(.)com Rob

Wish I had family in Durham, mine are all from Somerset and I'm at that brick wall stage! Nikki

Have you tried, familyhistoryonline.net a lot of the counties do vary in what is available but growing all the time. Once registered it is a pay to view site but you can purchase virtual vouchers on line, or addresses given to purchase in other ways. If you have a common surname though it can be quite expensive!! but will give you clues as to which offfices to contact or visit for further info.

Thanks Linda Have taken all I can from familyhistoryonline, coverage for Somerset is quite good but not good enough for my purposes sadly! Nikki

There are volunteer online parish clerks for many areas, who take on the task of transcribing registers etc. Try googling online parish clerk for the area you want and see what happens. Happy hunting. :-) Joy

Thanks Joy Saw your nudge of the OPC details too, nothing for Somerset though. Nikki

Which parts of Somerset Nikki?

The LDS have filmed a lot of parish records. You can order a film of the parish you need at an LDS centre near you for a small fee. It is kept there a month for you to search. Check in the catalogue on family search to see if the parishes you need have been filmed. Gwynne

Try looking at Genfair http://www.genfair (.) com remove brackets and spaces and you may find some useful stuff.

Nikki, have you tried looking in the GENUKI website? If you go there, then go into Somerset, and click on Genealogy, you will find, among other things: 'Genealogy Graham Jaunay's English Names Research Directory covers this county. John Fuller has provided full details of Genealogy Mailing lists covering Somerset. This is but a small part of the data available on the 'Genealogy Resources on the Internet' pages maintained by John and Chris Gaunt. Bristol and Somerset Mailing List: for anyone with an historical or genealogical interest in the city of Bristol or county of Somerset. WESSEX-PLUS Mailing List: For anyone who has an interest in genealogy or general and local history related to and incorporating the counties of Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Isle of Wight, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire. ENG-SOMERSET Mailing List: for anyone with a genealogical interest in the county of Somerset. The Somerset Look-up Exchange. Volunteers are offering look-ups in various research references. Researchers may be interested in the Somerset Genweb pages.' The Look-up Exchange could be helpful for you. Joy

Katazyna At the risk of hi jacking this thread, there are good many things indexed by LDS for Norfolk in particular that are inaccurate. Historically, they were not allowed to film Norfolk records, so had to make do with transcripts. Because they did not fully understand the transcripts, all sorts of additional errors crept in. The entries may exist, but sometimes the year and sometimes the parish is incorrect. The marriage of Edmund Skilling and Hannah Chamberlain is noted twice. Brumstead 1672 and Walcott 26 Feb 1672. But in the transcripts from which these entries are taken, Brumstead is 24 Feb 1672/3 and Ridlington (not Walcott) is 26 Feb 1672 old style.

Nikki Rod Neep (Archive CD Books) has many Parish Registers on CD. http://www.rod-neep(.)co.uk Somerset : perhaps your parish is included here http://www.rod-neep(.)co.uk/acatalog/som-church.html also check ebay as Rod often puts some of his stuff on there as Buy it Now dave

Thanks for all of the info guys, have lots of options to look at there.... I'm interested in BAWDRIP, CHEDZOY & BRIDGWATER, Somerset so hopefully can find something else to help! Nikki

Hi there Nikki Like you i was in need of searching the Parish Registers too but couldnt go visit myself as it was too far away. So i went on to the FHS website for that particular area and bought the transcribed Microfiches . They only took days to arrive and today i went to my local library to view them. What a fantastic morning i had, found loads of good info. Good luck, Deb X

Deb When you say you bought the films from the FHS website - what's the web address? I'll have a look & see if I can do the same. Nikki x

I must say that it is always a good idea if you can get to a records office as you can see lots of other useful things when tracing relatives, such as old maps, school registers, street directories etc. nell

ahhhh Bawdrip - such fond memories. lol Have you tried this site Nikki? http://freespace.*virgin.*net/paul.*mansfield1/paul003.html

oh - and this web site sells parish records on CD... http://www.*uk-genealogy.*org.*uk/shop/Somersetshire.html

Have you heard of the freereg site? It's not active to search yet - but its worth keep looking on the site. ANYONE KNOW WHEN ITS DUE TO KICK OFF????