England, Essex, Bishop's Transcripts - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection contains images of birth, baptism, marriage, and burial records from the county of Essex for the years 1779-1892.

Bishop’s transcripts contain more or less the same information as parish registers, so they are an invaluable resource when a parish register has been damaged, destroyed, or otherwise lost. Bishop's transcripts are often of value even when parish registers exist, as priests often recorded either additional or different information in their transcripts than they did in the original registers.

To learn more about the content and importance of bishop's transcripts, see the England Bishop's Transcripts page.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
Christening or baptism records include:
 * Name of the child
 * Date of christening
 * Names of the parents
 * Residence
 * Occupation of the father

Marriage records include:
 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Place of residence
 * Date of marriage
 * Names of the witnesses

Burial records include:
 * Name of the deceased
 * Residence
 * Date of burial
 * Age

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching, it is best to know the following information: As you search, compare your results with this information to find a match.
 * Name of the person
 * Date range for the record

View the Images

 * 1) Go to the collection Browse Page.
 * 2) Click on the correct Name of County link.
 * 3) Click on the correct Name of Town, Parish/Church link.
 * 4) Click on the correct Event Type and Year Range (with Volume) link to go to the image viewer.
 * 5) Use the onscreen controls to move between record images as you look for a match.

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

 * Copy down all the information listed in the record. Save or print the image, if possible.
 * Cite the record; see below for help citing this collection.
 * Use the information you found to find more. For instance, use the age listed in the record to estimate a year of birth, if that is yet undetermined.
 * Find the original parish register, if possible. See the Essex Parish Registers page for more information and search options.
 * If in the appropriate period, use the information you found to find the individual in civil records. Particularly useful for research in nineteenth-century England are the England Census and the England Civil Registration 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 a person with a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which individual is correct. Use other information, such as place of birth, age, occupation, or names of parents, to determine which candidate is the correct person. If listed, a personal title may be a clue to property ownership or occupation, either of which might be noted in other records.
 * Vary the search terms. For example, search by either the given name or surname to return broader list of possible candidates which can then be examined for matches. Alternatively, try expanding 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 appear under a different name in a record for a variety of reasons:
 * An individual might have been listed under a middle name, nickname, or 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.
 * Some women reverted to their maiden names after the death of their husbands.
 * Search the records of bordering locations. In the period of this collection, most people never lived more than 20 miles from their place of birth, though smaller moves were common. For this collection, bordering locations include the counties of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, Hertfordshire and Middlesex to the west, or Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south. If the individual lived in the southwestern portion of Essex, a thorough search of London records might be necessary.
 * 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 Essex Bishop’s Transcripts. ” Index and Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2015. Citing Essex Record Office, Chelmsford, Essex, England.
 * Collection Citation:

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