England, Cambridgeshire Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection contains baptismal, marriage, and burial records from 1538-1983 from the Church of England in the county of Cambridgeshire.

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 important 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.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Christening
 * Name
 * Christening date
 * Christening place
 * Gender
 * Names of parents

Marriage
 * Names of bride and groom
 * Marriage date
 * Marriage place
 * Marital status
 * Names of parents
 * Estimated year of birth

Burial
 * Name of the deceased
 * Burial date
 * Burial place
 * Age
 * Estimated birth year

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * Name of the person
 * Approximate date of the event

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 an image of the original record when possible. The online index entry only lists the most basic information from a record; the original may contain further information. Save a copy of the image whenever possible
 * Use the information to find the person and other family members in census records
 * Use death information to search for cemetery or obituary records
 * Continue to search the index 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?

 * When looking for an individual with a common name, look at all the search results before deciding which is the correct person
 * If the person has a questionable locality, check the original record for verification
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records
 * Try searching records of a nearby locality
 * Huntingdonshire to the west
 * Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk to the north
 * Suffolk to the east
 * Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex to the south
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names
 * 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
 * Some women returned to their maiden names after the death of their husbands
 * Vary the search terms. For example, expand the date range or search by either the given name or surname to return a broader list search results
 * The individual might have belonged to a nonconformist denomination. See England Nonconformist Church Records for more information about those records

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in Cambridgeshire.
 * Cambridgeshire Guided Research
 * England Record Finder
 * England Research Tips and Strategies

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.