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A parish register in an
ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the
parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as
baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...
s (together with the dates and names of the parents), marriages (with the names of the partners), children, and burials (that had taken place within the parish) are recorded. Along with these vital details, church goods, the parish's response to briefs, and notes on various happenings in the parish were also recorded. These elaborate records existed for the purpose of preventing
bigamy In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...
and
consanguineous marriage Consanguine marriage is marriage between individuals who are closely related. Though it may involve incest, it implies more than the sexual nature of incest. In a clinical sense, marriage between two family members who are second cousins or closer ...
. The information recorded in registers was also considered significant for secular governments’ own recordkeeping, resulting in the churches supplying the state with copies of all parish registers. A good register permits the family structure of the community to be reconstituted as far back as the sixteenth century. Thus, these records were distilled for the definitive study of the history of several nations’ populations. They also provide insight into the lives and interrelationships of
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...
ioners.


History


England and Wales

Parish registers were formally introduced in England and Wales on 5 September 1538 shortly after the formal split with
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
in 1534, when
Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false char ...
, chief minister to Henry VIII, acting as his
Vicar General A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop' ...
issued an injunction requiring that in each parish of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
registers of all baptisms, marriages, and burials be kept. Before this, a few
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
religious houses and parish priests had kept informal notes on the baptisms, marriages, and burials of the prominent local families and obits of holy persons. This injunction was addressed to the rector or vicar of every Anglican parish in England. By contrast, surviving Catholic communities were discouraged from keeping similar records out of the necessity of remaining hidden in a country now hostile to Catholicism. Cromwell's order had, however, nothing to do with religious doctrine or the papacy, but rather indicated the desire of the central government to have better knowledge of the population of the country. Church historian Diarmaid MacCulloch has suggested that the measure may have been introduced as a means to identify infiltration into England by members of the outlawed Anabaptist sects: their adherents did not baptise infants due to their doctrine that only active believers could be baptised thereby excluding "dumb" or "unmindful" children. The book was to be kept in a "sure coffer" with two locks and keys, one held by the parish priest and one by the churchwardens. A fine of 3 shillings, 4 pence was to be levied for failure to comply. Many parishes ignored this order as it was commonly thought that it presaged a further tax. Finally, in 1597, both Queen Elizabeth I and the Church of England's Convocation reaffirmed the injunction, adding that the registers were of ''‘permagnus usus’'' and must be kept in books of
parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins o ...
leaves. They mandated the keeping of duplicate registers or
Bishop's transcripts A bishop is a person of authority in a Christian church. Bishop, Bishops or Bishop's may also refer to: Religious roles * Bishop (Catholic Church) * Bishop (Eastern Orthodox Church) * Bishop (Latter Day Saints) * Bishop (Methodism) Places Anta ...
, ordering that annually copies of every parish's records of baptism, marriage, and burial be sent into the diocesan bishop's registrar. These records survive sporadically from this date and may make up for some gaps in the regular parish register due to war, carelessness, and loss due to other causes (fire, etc.). At the same time, all previous parish records (most found in a less durable form) had to be copied into the new sturdier books. The parish clerk was paid to copy the old records into a new parchment book in order to keep the record up to date. During the
English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
(1643–1647), and in the following periods of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, when the Church of England was suppressed and bishops abolished and replaced by Calvinist ministers under the Directory, records were poorly kept and many went missing after being destroyed (bored by beetles, chewed by rats or rendered illegible by damp) or hidden by the displaced Anglican clergy. Instead, for a brief period a civil official, confusingly also called the ''parish register'', was elected locally and approved by two local justices of the peace. Often a semi-literal layman of Puritan hue, he was charged with keeping civil records of birth, marriage, and death in each parish for the balance of the Interregnum, and, in some cases, he even wrote his records into the old parish register. In the course of this passage from Anglican safekeeping to civil hands, however, many records were lost. The old format was re-adopted by the restored Church of England when the Monarchy was restored in May 1660. Centuries later, this parsimony and neglect was belatedly remedied by depositing the surviving registers in county record offices where they were better safeguarded, conserved, and made accessible mostly on
microfilm Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either photographic film, films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the origin ...
as that technology became available. On the other hand, the accurate parish registers of New France were rarely damaged by external events such as war, revolution, and fire. Thus, 300,00 entries were available for the time period 1621 to 1760. In 1812 England, an "Act for the better regulating and preserving Parish and other Registers of Birth, Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, in England" was passed It stated that "amending the Manner and Form of keeping and of preserving Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials of His Majesty's Subjects in the several Parishes and Places in England, will greatly facilitate the Proof of Pedigrees of Persons claiming to be entitled to Real or Personal Estates, and otherwise of great public Benefit and Advantage". Separate, printed registers were to be supplied by the King's Printer, and used for baptisms, marriages and burials. (James Thomas Law, The ecclesiastical statutes at large, extr. and arranged by J.T. Law) These are more or less unchanged to this day.


United States

In the United States, at least the parishes in the Roman Catholic dioceses maintained a similar practice of recording baptisms, marriages, burials, and often also confirmations and first communions. From the earliest pioneer churches ministered by itinerant priests, the records were written in
ecclesiastical Latin Latin, also called Church Latin or Liturgical Latin, is a form of Latin developed to discuss Christian thought in Late Antiquity and used in Christian liturgy, theology, and church administration down to the present day, especially in the Ca ...
. But after the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...
and its reforms that included translating the Mass into local languages, most register entries gradually came to be written in English. In Protestant communions with stronger similarities to Roman Catholicism, parish registers are also important sources that document baptisms, marriages, and funerals. In Protestant and Evangelical churches, individual ministers often kept records of faith-related events among the congregation, but under much less guidance from any central governing body.


Italy

The parish register became mandatory in Italy for baptisms and marriages in 1563 after the
Council of Trent The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described a ...
and in 1614 for burials when its rules of compilation were as well normalised by the Church. Prior to 1563, the oldest registers of baptisms are preserved since 1379 in
Gemona del Friuli Gemona del Friuli ( la, Glemona, fur, Glemone, sl, Humin, german: Klemaun) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about northwest of Udine. Th ...
, 1381 in
Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...
, 1428 in
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
or 1459 in
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
.


France

In France, parish registers have been in use since the Middle Ages. The oldest surviving registers date back to 1303 and are posted in Givry. Other existing registers prior to orders of civil legislation in 1539 reside in
Roz-Landrieux Roz-Landrieux () is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Roz-Landrieux are called ''Rozéens'' in French. See also *Communes of the Ille-et-Vilaine department The follow ...
1451,
Paramé Paramé ( br, Parame) is a former town and commune of France on the north coast of Brittany. Paramé merged with Saint-Servan to form the commune of Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany ...
1453,
Lanloup Lanloup (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany in northwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Lanloup are called ''lanloupais'' in French. See also *Communes of the Côtes-d'Armor department The following is a l ...
1467,
Trans-la-Forêt Trans-la-Forêt () is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is the site of the 939 AD Battle of Trans-la-Forêt. Population See also *Communes of the Ille-et-Vilaine department The following is ...
1479 and Signes 1500. The parish register became mandatory in France for baptisms with the
Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (french: Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts) is an extensive piece of reform legislation signed into law by Francis I of France on August 10, 1539, in the city of Villers-Cotterêts and the oldest French legislat ...
signed into law by
Francis I of France Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin on ...
on August 10, 1539, then for marriages and burials with the Ordinance of Blois in 1579. They had to be sent every year to the bailiwick or ''sénéchaussée'' in the south of France. In April 1667, the
Ordinance of Saint-Germain-en-Laye Ordinance may refer to: Law * Ordinance (Belgium), a law adopted by the Brussels Parliament or the Common Community Commission * Ordinance (India), a temporary law promulgated by the President of India on recommendation of the Union Cabinet * ...
ordered a copy to be kept by the parish clergy as before the ordinance. By decree of the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
of September 20, 1792, the keeping of the civil registers was given to mayors and the old parish registers went then to the public records of the ''archives communales,'' and the old bailiwick registers to the created in 1796. But from 1795, the parish again kept some private registers, like the ''registres de catholicité'' for the Catholic Church which are also made in duplicate, one for the parish and one for the diocesan archives. The legalization of these documents, functioning both as a means of census as well as civil documentation, has in some cases been used to restore official acts of civil status such as after the downfall of the Paris commune and the reconstruction of Le Palais de Justice after the fires of 1871.


New France

The first Europeans to settle in North America continued the practice of establishing parish registers. Shortly after the establishment of Habitation, the arrival of Jesuit priests in 1615 facilitated the earliest beginnings of the parish register in
New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...
.These earliest accounts entered into the register were recorded primarily within the Jesuits personal logs, and accounted exclusively for the number of deaths in the early settlement period of Quebec. However, over time the growing French population propagated the development and detailing of the parish register. Entries detailing births, marriages, baptisms and deaths were recorded and kept in the church of
Notre Dame-de-la-Recouvrance Notre may refer to: *Notre language Nootre, also known as Boulba, is a Gur language of Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country i ...
. Unfortunately, in 1640 the church burned along with all parish records from 1620 to 1640. After the church burned, the
parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
commissioned at Notre Dame-de-la-Recouverance reconstructed the destroyed register entries from memory by recording the rather limited number of births, baptisms and marriages to take place within the colony during this 20-year period. Deaths however, were not recorded in the reconstructed registers and as a consequence there is no recorded account of the death of Samuel de Champlain who died in 1635. Although the creating and maintaining parish registers in Europe had been in practice since the Middle Ages, legislation regarding the widespread and legal use of parish registers in France was officially passed into law with the signing of the Ordnance of Villers-Cotterets in 1539. However, it was not until 1666 where after perceiving the immense advantages to be gained through civil registration that King Louis XIV revitalized the parish registration system in France and her colonies. This edict, set forth by the king, made it compulsory for individuals to register within their parish communities. Moreover, in 1667 the king revealed the Ordonnance de Saint Germain en Laye, a piece of legislation which required parish priests to produce a duplicate of all registers so that all copies may be stored in emerging records offices. In New France, these duplicates were stored in
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
and
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
’s Courts of Justice official records office and listed
New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...
’s Roman Catholic population exclusively. It was only until after cession and the British conquest of New France in 1760 that parish registers began to more openly include Protestants within the registry, and as civil subjects of Quebec.


Sweden

Parish registers have been kept for each
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...
by the
Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...
for some Swedish counties (Västmanland and Dalarna) since the 1620s, and generally for the whole Sweden since the 1670s. The church was ordered to keep even more detailed church books in king Charles XI's Church Law from 1686. The primary motivation was to keep track of the number of soldiers that were taken out from each parish, and that were financed by each parish, through the allotment system that was introduced in 1682. Another motivation was to keep track of religious knowledge, literacy and health among the population. The church books constitute of birth, death, marriage and moving in/out records, all of which were linked to the parish catechetical book, which was replaced in 1895 by the parish book. In country side parishes, each village or industrial town had its own section in the catechetical book, each farmyard its own page, and each person its own row. For city parishes, the book was divided into districts. The majority of church records are still preserved in the state archives, and available electronically over the Internet.


Contents and examples from England

The contents have changed over time, not being standardised in England until the Acts of 1753 and 1812. The following are among what you can expect to find in later registers, though in the earlier ones it is quite common to find only names recorded. Early entries will be in some form of Latin, often abbreviated.


Baptisms

*Date of baptism *Date of birth (but this is often not recorded) *Child's forename *Child's surname (though normally omitted as father's name is assumed) *Father's name — blank if illegitimate *Mother's name (but this is often not recorded) *Father's occupation or rank *Place of birth (for large parishes) *Examples: #Baptised 21 August 1632 William son of Francis Knaggs #Baptism 5 January 1783 Richard son of Thomas Knaggs, farmer, and his wife Mary, born 6 December 1782


Marriages

*Date of marriage *For both man and woman **Forename and Surname **Whether bachelor or spinster, widower or widow **Age **Whether of-this-parish or of some other place **Occupation (normally man only) **Father's forename, surname and occupation or rank **Signature *Whether by Banns or by Licence *Witness(es) signature(s) *Note: from 1837, the information contained in parish records is the same as that on a civil marriage certificate. *Examples: #Married 2 May 1635 Francis Ducke and Anne Knaggs #Married 16 May 1643 Leonard Huntroids yeoman of Brafferton and Lucy Knaggs widow of this parish # 643 Marriages #Married 11 August 1836 Richard Knaggs the younger, age 20, bachelor, farmer of Kilham and Elizabeth Wilson, age 25, spinster of this parish, by licence and with the consent of those whose consent is required


Burials

*Date of burial *Name of deceased *Age of deceased *Occupation, rank or relationship of deceased *Normal place of abode of deceased *Examples: #Buried 6 January 1620 Richard Knags #Buried 4 November 1653 stillborn daughter of Raiph Knaggs of Ugthorpe #Buried 25th Dec 1723 Mr George Knaggs, gent of Pollington, aged 74 #Buried 19 July 1762 Thomas Knaggs, son of Thomas tailor of Byers Green and Elizabeth, age 13, drowned, double fees


Dade and Barrington Registers

Dade and Barrington Registers are detailed registers that contain more information than standard contemporary baptism and burial registers. They usually commence in the late eighteenth century, but come to an end in 1812, when they were superseded by the requirements of George Rose's 1812 Act, which required more information to be recorded than in normal registers, but actually required less information to be recorded than in Dade and Barrington Registers. There are examples of a few parishes continuing to keep Dade or Barrington Registers after 1813. In some cases, two registers were kept, for example in the Co Durham parish of
Whickham Whickham is a village in Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. The village is on high ground overlooking the River Tyne and south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It was formerly governed under the histor ...
both Barrington and Rose Registers were kept for the period 1813–1819, after which the former were discontinued. William Dade, a
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
clergyman of the 18th century, was ahead of his time, in seeing the value of including as much information on individuals in the parish register as possible. In 1777 Archbishop William Markham decided that Dade's scheme of registration forms should be introduced throughout his diocese. The resulting registers, and some that are related, are now known as "Dade registers". The baptismal registers were to include child's name, seniority (e.g. first son), father's name, profession, place of abode and descent (i.e. names, professions and places of abode of the father's parents), similar information about the mother, and mother's parents, the infant's date of birth and baptism. Registers of this period are a gold-mine for genealogists, but the scheme was so much work for the parish priests that it did not last long. In 1770 Dade wrote in the parish register of St. Helen's, York: "This scheme if properly put in execution will afford much clearer intelligence to the researches of posterity than the imperfect method hitherto generally pursued." His influence spread and the term Dade register has come to describe any parish registers that include more detail than expected for the time. The application of this system was somewhat haphazard and many clergymen, particularly in more populated areas, resented the extra work involved in making these lengthy entries. The thought of duplicating them for the Bishop's Transcripts put many of them off and some refused to follow the new rules. Several letters of complaint were printed in the York newspapers of the time, and the scheme suffered when the Archbishop indicated there was no punishment for vicars who failed to comply. The
Borthwick Institute for Archives The Borthwick Institute for Archives is the specialist archive service of the University of York, York, England. It is one of the biggest archive repositories outside London. The Borthwick was founded in 1953 as The Borthwick Institute of Histori ...
recommends that researchers looking at Yorkshire parishes between 1770 and 1812 should check both sources.


Barrington Registers

From about 1783, as
Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The see is in the City of Salisbury where the bishop's seat ...
, the Rt Rev.
Shute Barrington Shute Barrington (26 May 173425 March 1826) was an English churchman, Bishop of Llandaff in Wales, as well as Bishop of Salisbury and Bishop of Durham in England. Early life Barrington was born at Beckett Hall in Shrivenham in Berkshire (no ...
instigated a similar system somewhat simpler than Dade's, and followed this in Northumberland and Durham from 1798, when he was transferred to the diocese of Durham.


Transcriptions and indices

Most registers in the world have been deposited in diocesan archives or county record offices. Where these have been filmed, copies are available to scan from
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
through the
Family History Library The Family History Library (FHL) is a genealogical research facility in downtown Salt Lake City. The library is open to the public free of charge and is operated by FamilySearch, the genealogical arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
. Microfiche copies of parish registers, along with transcriptions, are usually available at larger local libraries and county record offices.


England

Since Victorian times, amateur genealogists have transcribed and indexed parish registers. Some societies have also produced printed transcripts and indexes — notably the Parish Register Society, the
Harleian Society The Harleian Society is a text publication society and registered charity founded in 1869 for the publication of manuscripts of the heraldic visitations of the counties of England and Wales, and other unpublished manuscripts relating to genealo ...
and
Phillimore & Co The History Press is a British publishing company specialising in the publication of titles devoted to local and specialist history. It claims to be the United Kingdom's largest independent publisher in this field, publishing approximately 300 ...
. The
Society of Genealogists The Society of Genealogists (SoG) is a UK-based educational charity, founded in 1911Fowler, S School of Advanced Study, University of London. Date unknown. Retrieved 2011-10-30. to "promote, encourage and foster the study, science and knowledge ...
, in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, has a very large selection of such transcripts and indexes. The Family History Library in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
also has a vast collection of films of original registers. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has also produced an index (the IGI), of very many register entries — mostly baptisms and marriages. The IGI is available as an online database

and on microform matter at local "Family History Centers". Like all transcripts and indexes, the IGI should be used with caution, as errors can occur in legibility of the original or microfilm of the original, in reading the original handwriting, and in entering the material to the transcription. "Batch entries" are generally more reliable than "individual submissions."


See also

*
Civil registry Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events ( births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in differ ...
*
Family register Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events (births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in differe ...
*
Nonconformist register A Nonconformist register is broadly similar to a parish register, but deriving from a nonconformist church or chapel. Nonconformist churches do not conform to the doctrines of the Church of England. In other words, these Protestant churches dissen ...


Footnotes


Bibliography

Delsalle, Paul. 2009. ''Histoires de familles: les registres paroissiaux et d'état civil, du Moyen Âge à nos jours : démographie et généalogie''. Besançon: Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté. Greer, Allan. 1997. The People of New France. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Isbled, Bruno. “Le Premier Registre de Baptemes de France: Roz-Landrieux (1451)”. ''Place Public''. April, 2011. http://www.placepublique-rennes.com/article/Le-premier-registre-de-baptemes-de-France-Roz-Landrieux-1451- Law, James Thomas. "The ecclesiastical statutes at large, extr. and arranged by J.T. Law." Milza, Pierre. 2009. ''"L'année terrible". '. "L'année Terrible". Paris: Perrin. Pounds, N.J.G., 2000. ''A History of the English Parish: The Culture of Religion from Augustine to Victoria''. Cambridge University. ''"Parochial Registers". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.'' Parrot, Paul. “History of Civil Registration in Quebec”. ''Canadian Public Health Journal'' 21, no. 11 (1930) 529 –40. R.B. Outhwaite, Clandestine Marriage in England, 1500–1850". 1998. ''Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis / Revue D'Histoire Du Droit / The Legal History Review.'' 66 (1-2): 191–192. Rose's Act http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~framland/acts/1812Act.htm Sheils, William Joseph. ''"Dade, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.''{{Authority control Genealogy Catholic liturgy Catholic canonical documents Marriage in the Catholic Church Catholic matrimonial canon law Sacramental law