Wiltshire Parish and Probate Records

Wiltshire Parish and Probate Records

Wiltshire, England: Parish and Probate Records
A collection of parish and probate records in England and Wales, from the 1500s to the 1800s.

Wiltshire, England: Parish and Probate Records is a collection of historical parish and probate registers from Wiltshire,England.

This document contains over 53,400 Wiltshire parish and probate records covering the period from the early 1500s to the mid- to late-1800s.

What Are Parish Records?

Parish records; primarily baptisms, marriages, and burials, provide the best source of vital (BMD) record information in the centuries before civil registration. The records include baptisms/christenings, burials, marriages, tombstone inscriptions, obituaries, tax lists, wills, and other miscellaneous types of records. There are also some records from non-conformist churches.

All of the data contained in Wiltshire, England: Parish and Probate Records was converted as it was originally presented in various published registers and books. This means that the data will include interesting phonetic spellings and large descriptive tables of contents.

Some of the records may be in Latin or even a Welsh or Scottish dialect depending on location. The spelling is archaic, and is transcribed as it was written. There are many spelling inconsistencies and non-standard grammar. Phonetic spelling is often used. 
Historical background of Parish and Probate Records.
From the 16th century  a series of mandates required clergy to compile records of baptisms, marriages, and burials within the parish, and to send an annual copy to the Bishop.
Parish Records are divided into two sets of records:
  • the parish copy - Parish Records
  • the copy the clergyman sent to the Bishop each year - Bishops Transcripts.
During the Civil War (1642-1660), many Parish Records  were destroyed, lost, or simply not kept . Of the surviving records, many have since been transcribed and collected by genealogical societies. The records are a valuable resource for finding vital information of people of the time. Due to human transcribers, the content of the records may vary between the Parish Record and the Bishop Transcript.
The Civil registration of births, deaths, and marriage, often called General Registration, began in July of 1837. Whilst the Civil registration provides a national vital records index and includes people who may not have been associated with a church,many births went unrecorded in the early years of civil registration, so parish records are still extremely valuable.
Contains of   Wiltshire, England: Parish and Probate Records

Wiltshire: - Inquisitiones Post Mortem returned to the court of chancery, 1242-1326
Wiltshire: - Abstracts of Inquisitiones Post Mortem Returned Into the Court of Chancery, 1327-1377
Wiltshire: - Abstracts of Inquisitiones Post Mortem Returned Into the Court of Chancery in the Reign of Charles 1st
Wiltshire: - Registers of Marriages, 1561-1812
Wiltshire: - Registers of Marriages, 1591-1812
Wiltshire: - Registers of Marriages, 1538-1812
There are other church records, and a search on Familysearch.org on the FHLC can provide you with listings of original parish records by doing a locality search for your county/parish, then look under “Church Record” type.

Posted in Wiltshire Parish and Probate Records on Jun 20th, 2007, 12:13 pm by Wiltshire Family Search   

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