England, Lancashire, Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection contains an index to and images of baptismal, marriage, and burial records from the county of Lancashire for the years 1538 - 1910. The original records are held at the Lancashire Archives. Availability of records may vary by year and locality.

Parish registers have been kept at the local level across England since the mid-1500s. Due to this long and relatively stable tradition, these records 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.

To learn more about parish registers, please see the England Parish Registers page.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
Christening records include:
 * Name of the child
 * Date and place of christening
 * Gender
 * Names of the parents

Marriage records include:
 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Gender
 * Marital status
 * Names of parents
 * Often includes age and estimated birth dates

Burial records include:
 * Name of the deceased
 * Date and place of burial
 * Gender
 * Often includes age and estimate birth dates

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching, it is best to know the following information:
 * Name of the person
 * Date range for the record

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Look at the original image, if possible. The online index entry only lists the most basic information from a record; the original may contain further information which was not included in the index
 * Save or print a copy of the image whenever possible
 * If a christening record is found, use the information to find a birth record
 * If the names of parents are listed, search for the family in censuses
 * Use the names of the bride and groom to find the new family in future census records
 * Use a burial date along with the age to estimate a birth year
 * Continue to search the index for people with the same surname to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives
 * Remember that family members often appear on an individual's vital records, such as in the role of witnesses to a marriage

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * Try variations of given names and surnames. An individual might have been listed under a middle name, a nickname, or an abbreviation of their given name
 * Spelling was not standardized for much of the period of this collection, so names were often spelled as recorders heard them. Pay attention to how the name should have been pronounced and try spelling variations that could have that pronunciation
 * Vary the search terms. For example, search by either the given name or surname to return broader list of possible matches.
 * Try expanding the date range as well. This is especially useful in searching baptismal records, as it was not unusual for a child to be baptized weeks or even months after birth
 * Search the records of nearby parishes. For this particular collection, this step may require finding records in the bordering English counties of Cumberland and Westmorland to the north, Yorkshire to the east, or Cheshire and Derbyshire to the south. If researching in the mid-nineteenth century or later, an extensive search of records from the city of Manchester might be necessary, especially if the individual was in the southeastern part of Lancashire
 * The individual in question may not have records in the Church of England at all, but rather might have belonged to a nonconformist denomination. See England Nonconformist Church Records for more information

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.

"England, Lancashire, Parish Registers 1538-1910." Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2017. Lancashire Record Office, Lancashire, Preston.
 * Collection Citation:

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