England, Hertfordshire, Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

England Hertfordshire

What is in the Collection?
This collection consists of church records from the county of Hertfordshire for the years 1538 through 1974.

In its most basic sense, a parish register is a record of religious ordinances performed in the Church of England. Beginning in 1538, every parish priest was required to write down certain information about every baptism (officially termed “christening” in Anglican use), marriage, and burial that took place in his parish over the course of each year. He was then supposed to bind these pages into a single volume, thereby annually producing a comprehensive history of his ministerial efforts. After 1754, a new law required that marriages be recorded in a separate book, and banns—public proclamations of a couple’s intent to marry—were to be recorded in yet another book. Starting in 1812, pre-printed registers were introduced, and separate registers were then kept for baptisms, marriages, and burials. It should also be noted that many parish records were not kept during the Interregnum, 1649-1660, due to temporary changes in the hierarchy of the Church of England.

Due to this long and relatively stable tradition, parish registers are central to English genealogical research as they are often one of the only sources for finding families and individuals in England before the start of civil registration in 1837.

One of the 39 historic counties of England, Hertfordshire is an inland county located in eastern England. Much of the southern portion of the historic county is now incorporated into the Greater London metropolis. For a list of parishes which historically made up this county, see the Hertfordshire Parishes page.

Collection Contents
Baptism records from the Church of England usually contain:


 * Name of the child
 * Baptism date
 * Place of baptism
 * Officiant of the baptism
 * Birth date
 * Sex of the child
 * Legitimacy of the child
 * Mother’s name
 * Father’s name and occupation
 * May list the residence of the parents, especially after 1812

Marriage records from the Church of England usually contain:


 * Marriage date
 * Name of the bride and groom
 * Age of the bride and groom
 * Place of the marriage
 * Parents (or other relatives) of the bride and groom
 * Residence of the bride and groom
 * Marital status of bride and groom
 * Occupation of bride and groom
 * Name of marriage officiant
 * May list the dates that the marriage was announced (also called “banns published”). This normally took place on three separate occasions prior to the marriage and gave anyone with a valid reason a chance to object to the marriage.
 * After 1754, the full names of witnesses
 * After 1837, the full names of the fathers

Burial records from the Church of England usually contain:


 * Burial date
 * Name of the deceased (If the deceased is a child, the father’s name might be given. If the deceased is a married woman, the husband’s name might be given.)
 * Age of the deceased
 * Place of burial
 * Officiant of the ceremony
 * Residence of the deceased

How Do I Search the Collection?
Parish registers are one of the best sources for identifying individuals and connecting them to parents, spouses, and other generations. Bishops’ transcripts are a backup source for parish registers that are missing or illegible. If possible, you may want to search both the parish registers and the bishops’ transcripts, since one is a handwritten copy of the other and might contain differences.

To search for a person in a Church of England parish register, you must know the following:


 * Where the person lived and the corresponding parish
 * When the person lived (If you do not know the time period, you must estimate it from what you know of more recent generations.)

To search this collection by name: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

Tips to Keep in Mind
You are able to connect your ancestor to an earlier generation anytime their parents’ names are given in a record. Use occupation information to help distinguish between your ancestor’s family and another family in the area with the same name. Knowing the occupation might also provide you the opportunity to find other records about your ancestor. You can use the listed ages at certain events (such as marriage and death) to approximate a birth date for your ancestor. This can also help you look for a baptism record. Use the residence information from each type of record to see the migration of your ancestor throughout their life. For instance, you can use the residence information from marriage records to look for their baptisms and to identify the children of this couple. Marriage records after 1754 also list the names of witnesses, who were often family members. These can help you identify your ancestor’s family. Signatures in the records might be used to identify a particular individual by the handwriting style.

Banns indicate the parish of residence of the bride and groom. This information often leads to the records of another parish. You can search for the baptisms of the bride and groom in the parishes of residence since these might also be the parishes where they were born.

Record History
In 1530, King Henry VIII established the Church in England, also known as the Anglican Church, the State Church, or the Episcopal Church. A law, passed in 1537, required ministers to record the baptisms, marriages, and burials that took place in their parishes. Priests recorded these events in registers and kept them at the parish level, which is the lowest level of authority in the Church of England. Within some parishes, chapelries were created to provide for the worship needs of the parishioner when the parish church was not easily accessible. Chapelries sometimes had the authority to perform baptisms, marriages, and burials, so they kept their own registers. Several parishes formed a deanery (presided over by a dean), several deaneries formed an archdeaconry (presided over by an archdeacon), and several archdeaconries formed a diocese (presided over by a bishop).

Most bishops’ transcripts of Church of England parish registers have been preserved. Many have also been copied to microfilm or microfiche. The condition of the records is relatively good considering their age and their storage conditions over the centuries. In 1598 ministers were required to copy their registers onto parchment. If the minister failed to make such a copy, the register for that parish and its records did not survive. During the Commonwealth period, 1649–1660, many parish registers disappeared and their transcripts were not kept because ministers were deposed from their parishes.

Beginning in 1598, ministers were required to send copies of their registers to an archdeacon or bishop annually. These copies are referred to as bishops’ transcripts, or sometimes archdeacon transcripts. As a result, two copies of many parish registers exist from 1598 to about the mid-1800s. After civil registration began in 1837, the value of keeping bishops’ transcripts diminished, so by 1870 most parishes had stopped making them.

Banns are proclamations of an intent to marry. After 1754 these banns were required to be read for three consecutive Sundays before a marriage so that anyone with reasons against the marriage could oppose it. Banns were read in both the bride’s parish and the groom’s parish.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

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