Parish Records

[ROAN1949]

I know this is a stupid question..I have been doing Family History for a few years and have used BMD and census records but I have never used parish records.  What are they, what do they contain and where are they kept, local church, registrars etc..?  Are they available on-line? I don't live in the area where all my family were born, would I have to visit that area to see the parish records?
Any help much appreciated.
TR

[behindthefrogs]

The parish records include baptism, marriage and burial records and are particularly useful prior to 1837 before the BMD records were started although they can be useful later.  The IGI contains transcribed (useful) and submitted (more dangerous) entries from these records and there are many other sources, none of them complete for these records.

There are also many other parish records which are also useful to family historians like those of the overseers of the poor.  Some of these have been transcribed often by the local family history society.

Most of these records if they still exist have been deposited in the local county record office

David

[jorose]

http://www.british-genealogy.com/resources/registers/indexf.htm
Is a good source to look at.

To find where parish records are held for any particular area, it is usually a good idea to check GENUKI (www.genuki.org.uk)

[ROAN1949]

Thanks behindthefrogs(!!, there must be a story behind that name) and Jorose. I'll have a look at both sites asap.
Tony

[Ruskie]

Keep an eye on this site:
http://freereg.rootsweb.com/
(A work in progress).
Not too many areas covered at present but you can be lucky.
What area is your research in?

[ROAN1949]

Ruskie,
Most of my family are from Liverpool.

[Ruskie]

Oh, in that case freereg won't be any use to you  - as I don't think they've got any Lancashire records transcribed yet ....

[Little Nell]

Have a look at this thread for an idea of what information is included in parish registers:

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,54385.0.html

Lots of other helpful hints can be found on the Beginners Board

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/board,47.0.html

and in the RootsChat Reference Library

http://surname.rootschat.com/lexicon/index.php

Nell

[DudleyWinchurch]

Oh, in that case freereg won't be any use to you  - as I don't think they've got any Lancashire records transcribed yet ....

But don't forget that if there are likely to be a lot of records that interest you from one particular parish that has not yet been transcribed for FREEREG, you could volunteer to do it yourself. 

Quicker than hoping someone else will get around to that one next