Accrington St James, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Guide to Accrington St James, Lancashire family history and genealogy: chapelry registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



Chapelry History
ACCRINGTON (St James) is a chapelry, in the parish of Whalley, 5½ miles (E. by S.) from Blackburn. The chapel was taken down and rebuilt upon a larger scale in 1826, and improved in 1838: it is a plain structure, with a tower in which are six musical bells; is elegant within; and has a handsome organ. An additional church was erected in 1840, in the form of a cross. It is dedicated to Christ. There are places of worship for Baptists, Wesleyans, and Swedenborgians.

Census records
Accrington has been completely indexed and transcribed by several online web sites. Here is a list of some of these web sites--those which provide significant details about our ancestry at no cost:

1881 - FamilySearch

1901 - 1901CensusOnline

The following web sites--all of which are pay-for-view or subscription sites can help you to more quickly find Accrington ancestors in the census records for all years in which census records were kept (1841-1911):


 * FindMyPast
 * Ancestry
 * TheGenealogist

To view copies of original census records, the Family History Library's British collection has the 1841-1891 census records available on microforms, i.e. microfilm or microfiche. Those available are searchable by ordering each film at FamilySearchCenters, as follows:

1841 FHL BRITISH Film no. 306895 1851 Old Accrington p. 301-368 New Accrington p. 369-643 FHL BRITISH Film 87272 1861 FHL BRITISH Film 543072 1871 Old Accrington FHL BRITISH Film 846728 1871 Old Accrington and New Accrington FHL BRITISH Film 846729 1871 New Accrington FHL BRITISH Film 846730 1881 RG 11/4139-4142 FHL BRITISH Film 1341991 1881 RG 11/4143-4145 FHL BRITISH Film 1341992 1891 RG 12/3355 (4 fiches) FHL BRITISH Fiche 6098465 1891 RG 12/3356 (4 fiches) FHL BRITISH Fiche 6098466 1891 RG 12/3357 (4 fiches) FHL BRITISH Fiche 6098467 1891 RG 12/3358 (3 fiches) FHL BRITISH Fiche 6098468 1891 RG 12/3359 (4 fiches) FHL BRITISH Fiche 6098469

Church Records
Online Records

The following Accrington chapelries and their registers exist, and some have been both microfilmed (original records) and some transcribed. To view the years for which chapel registers are extant and available at FamilySearch and/or at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston, click the name of the chapelry; to search online transcriptions of christenings, marriages and sometimes burials, click the years in the columns:

The Accrington chapelries' registers of christenings, marriages and burials (pre-1880) have been mostly transcribed and are accessible online at no cost for the following chapelries and their range of years:

The above chapelries comprise merely a few of Whalley St Mary's numerous attached chapels subdividing its parish boundary. If an ancestor cannot be traced in any of the above chapelries, next search in Whalley St Mary's Parish (see below):

If searches in these registers do not prove successful, be certain to search all the church registers of the chapels of ease (chapelries) and the parish registers of the ancient parish of Whalley St Mary &amp; All Saints, which see. Whalley St Mary was one of Lancashire's largest parishes, and in order to conduct thorough research within its boundary, requires searching in all of the registers of its chapels of ease as well as the Whalley St Mary's parish registers! To view their availability, visit the Comprehensive List of Whalley Parish Chapels and Churches.

Civil Registration of Births, Marriages Deaths - 1837 to the Present
Read about England Civil Registration (vital records) of birth, marriages and deaths on the England main page.

Online Indexes

There are two separate (free) indexes available for Lancashire civil registration of births, marriages and deaths. One index covers all registrations nation-wide, and one index covers the copies of the local registration district office's certificate copies for all registration districts throughout Lancashire, as follows:


 * FreeBMD - an online (free) index to the certificates held at the General Registrar's Office, formerly in London, now in Solihull, Merseyside, UK. The years currently covered in this index include July, 1837 to at least 1940.
 * LancashireBMD - an online index (free) to the local superintendant's&amp;nbsp;registrar of births, marriages and deaths for all registration districts throughout Lancashire, for the following range of years and their events: births 1837-1974; marriages 1837-2010; deaths 1837-1975.
 * Lancashire-OPC.org.uk provides numerous parish and chapel transcriptions online (free) for the post-1837 to 1910 period. Marriages after 1837 provide the same information as the civil registration certificates of marriages provide. However, the marriages in these online offerings are marriage transcriptions only.

Indexes

FamilySearch's Family History Library from July, 1837 to 1983 in microform media.

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

Web sites

 * LancashireBMD.org.uk - 15 million entries for Lancashire
 * FreeBMD - over 20 million entries for Lancashire
 * Lancashire Online Parish Clerk
 * FamilySearch