Advice on using OFHS records

[Jamesk10]

My research on my KING family in Oxfordshire has now gone back before 1837 and I am therefore having to now use resources such as the OFHS lookup service and their records. Whilst FindMyPast and IGI have pre-1837 results, it does not seem to be much use (or I'm using it wrong!) when I search (eg. see my recent post on King m. King and I can't find online on IGI or FindMyPast the records the OFHS provided). I guess not everything has been put online.

I wonder whether instead of paying a few pound each time for a lookup, whether it would be worth investing in buying some of their CDs of say marriage and birth records? Could people who have give me some advice on this?

[Iffley]

James -

My research on my KING family in Oxfordshire has now gone back before 1837 and I am therefore having to now use resources such as the OFHS lookup service and their records. Whilst FindMyPast and IGI have pre-1837 results, it does not seem to be much use (or I'm using it wrong!) when I search (eg. see my recent post on King m. King and I can't find online on IGI or FindMyPast the records the OFHS provided). I guess not everything has been put online.

I wonder whether instead of paying a few pound each time for a lookup, whether it would be worth investing in buying some of their CDs of say marriage and birth records? Could people who have give me some advice on this?

Welcome to research in Oxfordshire!

Yes, there are two ways of researching parish registers in Oxfordshire.  If you want to research in a specific parish, then the parish register CDs are the best approach - they give baptisms, marriages and burials.  The CD for each parish is shown on the interactive map at http://searches.oxfordshirefhs.org.uk/pardata.html , and there are several parishes on each CD - see http://www.ofhs.org.uk/CDsales.html#prs  .   The parish registers are the best way of researching a family - if you find a baptism of interest, you have the facility to check whether the child died in infancy, for instance.

The county-wide indexes, explained at http://searches.oxfordshirefhs.org.uk/ , complement the CDs.  If you were looking for a baptism ora marriage, and found a probable one in a likely parish, there's still a possibility there may be an equally likely one in a nearby parish - the child may have been taken to the mother's parish for baptism, for instance.  Using the Search Services for an extraction of likely events gives you a much stronger case for making the choice you do going back.

OFHS has help email and phone contact details on its front page - so feel free to talk anything through at any time.

Pre-1837 Oxfordshire PRs aren't, in the main, on the internet currently.

Wendy
Chairman, Oxfrdshire FHS
www.ofhs.org.uk

[bucksboy]

Most of the CD's contain about 10-14 parishes per CD.    A good starting point is to purchase the one that your main interest is in.   I would also recommend the marriage index. 1538-1837.

Some CD's go beyond the year 2000, and can almost bring you 'up to date'.

What they do not do, is cover registry office marriages.

Some years ago I purchased all 3 CD's for Bicester district, which cover 35 parishes.  It seemed expensive at the time, but they have saved me £100's in certs, and £100's from purchasing wrong certs,  Post 1837.


Steve.

[Jamesk10]

Thanks for your advice.

What they do not do, is cover registry office marriages.

... what's the difference?

[bucksboy]

A registry office marriage, is not a church marriage, so will not be in the Church parish registers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_office

Steve.

[bucksboy]

A registry office marriage(from 1837), is not a church marriage, so will not be in the Church parish registers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_office

Steve.

[Jamesk10]

Righto, but if I'm now researching circa 1800, won't all the marriages I seek be in the church parish registers? I thought marriages at a registry office was quite a new thing.

[bucksboy]

Righto, but if I'm now researching circa 1800, won't all the marriages I seek be in the church parish registers? I thought marriages at a registry office was quite a new thing.

I was just saying, that marriages that occur in the parish regs, could go past the year 2000 if you wanted later information except for registry office occurences.

Pre c1800, should be in the parish regs.

[andycand]

Hi

I wouldn't assume that all marriages in any period will be in the Parish Registers. When Statutory Registration commenced in 1837 only Church of England, Jewish and Quaker marriages were recognised, for other denominations a Registrar had to be present and these marriages were shown as Registrar Attended and were recorded as Civil Marriages along with Register Office marriages. From 1898 other denominations could apply to conduct their own marriages.
My understanding is that prior to 1837 some non conformist churches such as the Catholic Church did conduct marriage ceremonies, these were not legally recognised but do appear in the Catholic Parish Registers.

Andy