Essex Record Office collaboration with Ancestry

[clairec666]

Keep up the good work as well. I think sadly the 1754-1774 marriage for Burnham on Crouch were destroyed in a fire one time, as people researching the Richmond family found this out. I am sure my James Hurrell married his 2nd wife Frances there c1767-1772. I descend from their son Jeremiah Hurrell born 1772. Fanny Hurrel died in 1814 aged 72 so born c1741/1742.

Yup, I'm descended from the Richmonds in Burnham so the gap of marriage records is a bit frustrating.

[melba_schmelba]

Despite these new transcriptions, I'm still going to carry on transcribing Essex records for FreeREG.

Keep up the good work as well. I think sadly the 1754-1774 marriage for Burnham on Crouch were destroyed in a fire one time, as people researching the Richmond family found this out. I am sure my James Hurrell married his 2nd wife Frances there c1767-1772. I descend from their son Jeremiah Hurrell born 1772. Fanny Hurrel died in 1814 aged 72 so born c1741/1742.

I have a strong feeling as to Frances' maiden name anyway as a Fanny Argo was baptised in Danbury in 1741 and an awful lot of Argo's witnesses marriages of James Hurrell's children, plus James Hurrell witnessed a marriage of a brother of the Fanny Argo/Argol baptised in 1741.

Have you tried wills? There is the Essex wills beneficiaries index on findmypast, and the actual wills can be searched on SEAX, and there will also be some proved at PCC which are on Ancestry.

[coombs]

Clare I think I also descend from the Richmonds of Burnham. Sarah Richmond born 1740 seems to be the one who wed Nathan Jackson Quilter in Woodham Fererrs in 1776. A William Richmond witnessed the wedding in 1776, and his siganture matches that of the William Richmond who signed his 1761 marriage licence to Mary Hunick. While the 1754-1774 marriage register may not survive, any licences for people who wed in Burnham or who were of Burnham does survive. I looked at the the original on FamilySearch. I think William was the son of Jonathan and Mary like Sarah was. A Jonathan Richmond wed Mary Smith in Colchester in 1730 or 1731.

Melba, I shall certainly have a look at the Essex wills beneficiaries index on FindMyPast. Thanks.

[clairec666]

This might be of interest to some of you. Today I've found loads of burials for my relatives which appear in the Ancestry transcriptions but aren't on Findmypast. I've used exactly the same search terms on both sites, so I'm wondering if some parishes aren't covered on Findmypast.

I'd previously found a few baptisms on Findmypast which weren't on Ancestry, though I managed to find most of them on Ancestry by using wildcards.

So if you haven't already, it's worth searching both sites.

[jonwarrn]

There are indeed gaps in the coverage on findmypast.
List here (and again I'm not convinced it is totally accurate, in fact I know it isn't!)
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/articles/essex-parish-lists

So yes, more records on ancestry.
The transcriptions on findmypast may though contain more detail.
FreeReg continues transcribing Essex registers, and we know there are quite a lot of Essex records on FamilySearch
For people with Essex ancestors the situation is now vastly improved!
John

[coombs]

Essex parish records online were very sparse 10 years ago. Today it is much easier. FindMyPast is better with surname variants. Shame that Suffolk records online are still quite patchy and many of the new IGI records have vanished when being transferred from the much better old IGI site. Several of my Essex ancestors have ancestors who can be traced back to Suffolk. Lots of Suffolk people settled in the Rochford/Foulness area of Essex in the 1700s and 1880s, and that end of Essex is one of the furthest areas of Essex away from Suffolk.

Nonconformist ancestors can be harder to trace.

[melba_schmelba]

There are indeed gaps in the coverage on findmypast.
List here (and again I'm not convinced it is totally accurate, in fact I know it isn't!)
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/articles/essex-parish-lists

So yes, more records on ancestry.
The transcriptions on findmypast may though contain more detail.
FreeReg continues transcribing Essex registers, and we know there are quite a lot of Essex records on FamilySearch
For people with Essex ancestors the situation is now vastly improved!
John

Yes I don't think that findmypast list has been properly updated with the new transcriptions. I have found that the transcriptions on Ancestry and Findmypast are definitely from different sources. On Ancestry I have found several silly mistakes in transcription, such as the wife's parish being given as her name, which means, i.e, when searching for a John Smith who married an Amelia c. 1780, it finds nothing on Ancestry, but if I put the same query in findmypast it turns up the correct marriage. So if you don't find what you are looking for on Ancestry, definitely check both findmypast and freereg.

[clairec666]

Yes I don't think that findmypast list has been properly updated with the new transcriptions. I have On Ancestry I have found several silly mistakes in transcription, such as the wife's parish being given as her name

On that note, I assumed there was a transcription error on findmypast when I found a marriage of Little Wakering to Hannah Laver in Steeple in 1761. Little Wakering is a village not too far away from Steeple, so I assumed the transcriber had put the groom's parish in place of his name.

No mistake - here's the register itself:

[melba_schmelba]

Yes I don't think that findmypast list has been properly updated with the new transcriptions. I have On Ancestry I have found several silly mistakes in transcription, such as the wife's parish being given as her name

On that note, I assumed there was a transcription error on findmypast when I found a marriage of Little Wakering to Hannah Laver in Steeple in 1761. Little Wakering is a village not too far away from Steeple, so I assumed the transcriber had put the groom's parish in place of his name.

No mistake - here's the register itself:

How curious claire , I wonder if they were a foundling found at Little Wakering? In my entry's case, it was definitely wrong on Ancestry, the wife was correctly given as Anne on findmypast.