Santon Downham, Suffolk Genealogy

England   Suffolk     Suffolk Parishes   Santon Downham

Parish History
SANTON-DOWNHAM (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Thetford, hundred of Lackford, W. division of Suffolk, 2¾ miles (E. N. E.) from Brandon Ferry. Santon Downham St Mary is an Ancient parish in the county of Suffolk. It is situated in the village and this became the main settlement o fthe village which is on the edge of Thetford Forest and it forms the county border with Norfolk.

It is not to confused with neighbouring Santon, Norfolk which also has a parish and a tiny church reflecting it's status of a hamlet. Refer to the works listed in Suffolk Gazetteers or England Gazetteers for source material.

Resources
If you live in Suffolk you will have access to a variety of resources at local archives and libraries. For those who live further afield, one can access microfilm and online records at LDS Family History Centres. Refer to Suffolk_in_the_FHL_Catalog and in the Family History Library Catalogue for available records.

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.

Registration District:


 * Thetford 1837-1935
 * Newmarket 1935-

Church records
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Parish Registers began in the 1500's. They can be viewed at the Suffolk Record Office. There are Bishop Transcripts and Parish Registers that have been filmed for most parishes in the County. See the Suffolk Church Records article for further details.

The Genealogical Society of Utah has no microfilm for this parish but deposited register from 1579-1976 are at the Suffolk Record Office.

Prior to 1837 the parish was in the diocese of Norwich;post 1837 it was transferred to the Diocese of Ely.

Census records


Prior to the 1911 census the household schedule was destroyed and only the enumerator's schedule survives.

The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved. Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search. Find my Past 1911 census search

Poor Law Unions
Thetford Poor Law Union

See also England Norfolk Poor Law Union Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Norfolk Poor Law Unions

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Suffolk 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