Ashton in Makerfield, Lancashire Genealogy

Guide to Ashton in Makerfield, Lancashire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish register transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
ASHTON-IN-MAKERFIELD, or Ashton-le-Willows, is a township, in the union of Wigan, hundred of West Derby, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 5 miles (S.) from Wigan, and 7 miles (N. N. W.)from Warrington. The township was until lately, with Haydock, a chapelry in the parish of Winwick. By an act of parliament for the division of Winwick, passed in 1845, the Brynn-End and the Garswood-End were made a separate parish, called the rectory of Ashton; the Town-End was annexed to the adjoining township of Haydock, and the two places formed into another and distinct parish, called the vicarage of St. Thomas (the Apostle) in Ashton. The Independents, Quakers, Unitarians,and Roman Catholics have places of worship.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

Church Records

 * 1538 - 1910 at FamilySearch — index

Online Records
There are online transcriptions available for Ashton in Makerfield St Thomas and its chapel of ease, Downall Green Holy Trinity (Garswood-End).

Other important considerations:

The baptisms and marriages for Winwick Parish are online--to which St Thomas Ashton in Makerfield was annexed as a chapel of ease, until 1845, when it then became a separate parish by Act of Parliament. If you are searching for ancestry in Ashton in Makerfield prior to 1845, be certain to include a search in the Winwick Parish (and its chapelries') registers as well. Here is a breakdown of those years found online at FamilySearch and at the Lancashire Online Parish Clerk (LOPC) for Winwick Parish:

Be sure to visit (and search) the Winwick Parish's page to search all of it chapelries.

Original records

While FamilySearch has microfilmed the St Thomas Ashton in Makerfield Parish registers, baptisms, marriages and burials from 1698-1900, these have not been completely transcribed and published online with the exception of the baptisms (see above). However, the Parish of Winwick which formerly was the mother or ancient parish until about 1845,has been transcribed, indexed and published online on the web site.:

Non-Conformist Churches

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)
 * 1647-1996 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Genealogy
Hart of Anderton, Ashton-inMakerfield and Hindley. by Swain, Margaret. Family History and Pedigree chart of James Hart and Ellen Roscoe-Kirkham, dating from 1640-1942. Other surnames listed, Mortland, Low, Green, Doodson, Glover, Rigby, Kerfoot, Jones, Bridge, Poole, Baxter, Lawton, Martin, Swain, Faber, Miller, Cripwell, Sorg. Article in Lancashire Family History and Heraldry Soc. magazine, vol. 7 no.3. pages 18-29. FHL Ref. 942.72 B2r

Poor Law Unions
Wigan Poor Law Union

Probate Records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Lancashire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Websites
Ashton in Makerfield on GENUKI