Barbados Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
This collection of church records includes the years 1637-1887.

Record Description
This collection of church records includes baptisms, marriages, and deaths for the Anglican Church during the years 1637-1850, and for other denominations the years 1660-1887.

Record Content
The key genealogical facts found on most baptism records include: 


 * Place of event
 * Date of event
 * Name of child
 * Parents' names
 * Grandparents' names
 * Godparents' names

The key genealogical facts found on most marriage records include: 


 * Place and Date of the event
 * Names of bride and groom
 * Personal information of bride and groom
 * Parents of bride and groom
 * Place of residence

The key genealogical facts found on most death or burial records include: 


 * Date and place of death
 * Name of deceased person
 * Sometimes the parents or spouse names of deceased person
 * Cause of death
 * Burial place

How to Use the Record
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Name indexes to baptisms, marriages, and death or burials make it possible to access a specific record quickly. Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

When searching the index it is helpful to know the following:


 * The place where the event occurred
 * The name and surname of the person
 * The approximate date of the event
 * The name of the parents or spouse

Use the locator information found in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the records. Compare the information in the record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

For example:


 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in census records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.
 * Occupations listed can lead you to other types of records such as employment records or military records.
 * Use the parents’ birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * The name of the officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the county. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties.
 * Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.
 * Use the marriage number to identify previous marriages.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Keep in mind:


 * The information in church records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another.

If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, try the following:


 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.

Record History
The Anglican Church, which originally was referred to as the Church of England, was the first official religion in Barbados. The original Diocese of Barbados and the Leeward and Windward Islands established in 1824 was subsequently divided into five: Guyana in 1842 and Antigua in 1842, Trinidad in 1872, Windward Islands in 1879. Windward Islands continued to be administered by the Bishop of Barbados until 1930. These five together with the Dioceses of Jamaica created in 1824, Nassau and the Bahamas in 1861 and Belize (formerly British Honduras) in 1891 make up the Anglican Province of the West Indies.

The events of baptism, marriage and death in the life of their parishioners were recorded in registers, where the record was handwritten in English and kept in the parish archive.

Nonconformist churches such as Moravian, Baptist, and Methodist churches began to be established from the 1780s and may also be a useful source of family records. Other religion churches in Barbados include Wesleyan, Catholic, Jewish, and miscellaneous congregations other than Anglican.

Why the Record Was Created
Church records are created by an authorized priest, so the events in the life of parishioners may be kept in registers for preservation and future use.

Record Reliability
The Anglican and other Church records of Barbados are a reliable source for genealogical research. For research after the civil registration implementation of birth and marriages in 1890 and for deaths in 1925, it is suggested to research both civil and church records and to compare the information.

Related Websites
Anglican Diocese of Barbados

Related Wiki Articles
Barbados Church Records

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the Wiki Article: How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Examples of Source Citations for a Record in This Collection

 * "Delaware Marriage Records," index and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org): accessed 4 March 2011, entry for William Anderson and Elizabeth Baynard Henry, married 23 November 1913; citing marriage certificate no. 859; FHL microfilm 2,025,063; Delaware Bureau of Archives and Records Management, Dover.
 * “El Salvador Civil Registration,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org): accessed 21 March 2011, entry for Jose Maria Antonio del Carmen, born 9 April 1880; citing La Libertad, San Juan Opico, Nacimientos 1879-1893, image 50; Ministerio Archivo Civil de la Alcaldia Municipal de San Salvador.

Sources of Information for This Collection
Barbados. Department of Archives, Blackrock, Barbados. Barbados parochial registers, 1637-1887. Supreme Court Registrar, Barbados.

Detailed instructions for adding citations are also listed in the wiki article: How to Create Source Citations For FamilySearch Historical Records Collections.