Chard, Somerset Genealogy

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

Parish History
CHARD (St. Mary), a borough, market-town, and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Kingsbury-East, W. division of Somerset, 12 miles (S. E. by S.) from Taunton, and 139 miles (W. S. W.) from London. There are places of worship for Particular Baptists, Independent, and Wesleyans.

Other places in the parish include: Crim Chard, Crimchard, Forton, Tatworth with Perry Street, South Chard, South Chard with Chilson and Perry Street, Tatworth, and Old Chard.

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.

Church records
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Church records on microfilm
Parish registers for Chard, 1540-1900 Microreproduction of original records housed at the Somerset Record Office, Taunton The chapelry of Tatworth is in the parish of Chard. Somerset Record Office: D/P CHARD 2/1/1-11, 17-27, 2/2/1-4, 9

Bishop's transcripts for Chard, 1603-1825 Microreproduction of original manuscripts housed at the Somerset Record Office, Taunton. Somerset Record Office: D/D/Rr 84-84a

Known Issues
England Vital Records Index - FamilySearch Historical Records known issue Indexing project batch I04481-4 is incorrect. The data entry for place names is incorrect for film 1526463 and affects the parishes of Charlton Mackrell, Somerset, Charlcombe, Somerset,   Charlton Adam, Somerset,   Charlton Horethorne, Somerset

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Somerset 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
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Chard/index.html