England, Northumberland, Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection contains images of baptismal, marriage, and burial records from the county of Northumberland for the years 1538-1950. The original records are held at the Northumberland Archives.

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 the content and significance of parish registers, please see the England Parish Registers page.

Image Visibility
Whenever possible, FamilySearch makes images available for all users. However, rights to view images on our website are granted by the record custodians.

These images can be viewed online by members of the supporting organization(s), at a Family History Center near you, or the Family History Library. Also, the images are viewable to users who are part of the (enter the contributing organization here) and to users who have contributed to the FamilySearch Indexing effort. Learn how to be a part of FamilySearch indexing here.

For additional information about image restrictions, please see the Restrictions for Viewing Images in FamilySearch Historical Record Collections page.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
Baptism records include:
 * Name of the child
 * The date and place of christening
 * Names of the parents
 * Residence
 * Occupation of the father

Marriage records include:
 * Names of the bride and groom
 * The date and place of the marriage
 * Ages
 * Marital status
 * Occupation of the groom
 * Residences of the bride and groom
 * Fathers' names
 * Occupations of the fathers

Burial records include:
 * Name of the deceased
 * The date and place of burial
 * Residence
 * Age

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

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the :
 * 1) Select Name of County
 * 2) Select Town, Parish/Church
 * 3) Select Event Type and Year Range (with Volume) to view the images.

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?

 * Save or print a copy of the image, if possible
 * If a christening record is found, search for a birth date
 * If the parents' names are listed, search for the family in census records
 * If a marriage record is found, search for the new family in future censuses
 * If a burial record is found, search for a death date
 * If the age is listed in a burial record, estimate a birth year
 * Continue to search the index for people with the same surname to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives
 * Family members often appear on an individual's records, such as in the role of witnesses to a marriage

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

 * Vary the search terms. For example, search by either the given name or surname to return broader list of possible matches
 * Expand the date range. 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
 * Check for variants 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 they were pronounced. Pay attention to how the name should have been pronounced and try spelling variations that could have that pronunciation
 * Search the records of bordering locations. For this collection, bordering locations include the English counties of Yorkshire and County Durham to the south, Cumberland to the west, or the Scottish counties of Berwickshire and Roxburghshire to the north
 * The individual in question might not have records in the Church of England at all, but rather belonged to a nonconformist denomination. See the Northumberland Nonconformist Records page 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, Northumberland, Parish Registers, 1538-1950.” Index. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2016. Citing the Woodhorn Museum and Northumberland Archives.
 * Collection Citation:

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