Grain, Kent Genealogy

Guide to Grain, Kent ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
GRAIN, ISLE OF (St. James), a parish, in the union and hundred of Hoo, lathe of Aylesford, W division of Kent, 1¾ mile NW by W from Sheerness. There is a place of worship for Independents.

"Graine is, ecclesiastically, in the diocese of Rochester, in the archdeaconry of Rochester and St. Albans. The church is named for St. James with original parish registers commencing 1653. Grain [sic], Isle of, or St. James, a parish in Hoo district, Kent;  between the Thames and the Medway...The land was an island;  bounded, on the west by Yantlet creek, on the other sides by the Thames and the Medway;  but it is now connected with the mainland westward by a good road."

The church is 12th century in origin with later restoration in subsequent centuries.

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
 * Type the name of the parish in the search bar
 * Click on the location pin on the map
 * Choose Options from the pop up box
 * Click "List Contiguous Parishes" to find the neighboring parishes

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 Districts

 * 1837-1923 Hoo Registration District

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * Joiner Marriage Index - Kent ($)
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Kent ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at Findmypast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)

Census Records

 * Ancestry UK Census Collection ($)
 * 1841-1891 Census returns for Isle of Grain-St. James
 * Findmypast Census ($)

Poor Law Unions

 * Hoo Poor Law Union, Kent

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

 * Church of St James British Listed Building
 * Grain: St James A Church Near You
 * The island of Graine British History Online]