Parish Registers of Wales

A country in its own right

Moderator: Global Moderators

Post Reply
SarahND
Site Admin
Posts: 5631
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:47 am
Location: France

Parish Registers of Wales

Post by SarahND » Sat Oct 30, 2010 9:03 am

Hi all,
Got this from Dick Eastman's blog. Very good news for those of us with ancestors in Wales! And it looks as though one will be able to at least narrow down the search for free on FamilySearch.org before presumably shelling out the cash to FindMyPast (unless you are lucky enough to be able to visit the archives in Wales.)

Parish Registers of Wales to go Online for First Time

Around 893,000 images containing 8,000,000 baptisms, marriages and burials from across Wales will be filmed by FamilySearch and transcribed by findmypast.co.uk.  Some of the records date back to the sixteenth century, making it possible to find Welsh ancestors as far back as the 1500s. The records contain entries in English and Latin.

The records will be made available over the next two years at findmypast.co.uk with an index search available on FamilySearch.org. Free access to the images on findmypast.co.uk will be made available through all Archive Services in Wales.


All the best,
Sarah

Currie
Posts: 3924
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:20 am
Location: Australia

Re: Parish Registers of Wales

Post by Currie » Sat Oct 30, 2010 2:06 pm

Thanks Sarah,

That looks very useful and should fit in nicely with the pre 1858 Welsh Wills available free to view here. http://cat.llgc.org.uk/cgi-bin/gw/chame ... feb&lng=en

When they’re doing their research people will have to take into account the Welsh patronymic naming system which existed in Wales until very gradually replaced by the English system. Children were given the father’s forename as a surname. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/site ... ming.shtml

That’s why surnames Williams and Jones are so common in Wales. They’re derived from forenames William and John.

For example my GGG Grandfather was Morris Williams born 1755. His son, my GG Grandfather was William Morris born 1784.

Just to confuse things further, one of William Morris’s sons, in 1810, was baptised Ebenezer William and grew up to be Ebenezer Morris. Another son, in 1821, was baptised John Morris and grew up to be John Williams.

All the best,
Alan

SarahND
Site Admin
Posts: 5631
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:47 am
Location: France

Re: Parish Registers of Wales

Post by SarahND » Sat Oct 30, 2010 7:05 pm

Hi Alan,
Thanks for the interesting links. It's really wonderful that they have put all those wills online for free!

How do the patronymics work with the women? I've been reading a 1759 will of a woman named Catherine Price. All her sons have the surname Hughes. Does that mean her husband was Hugh Price or just that Catherine's father was named Rees/Rice?

Regards,
Sarah

Currie
Posts: 3924
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:20 am
Location: Australia

Re: Parish Registers of Wales

Post by Currie » Sun Oct 31, 2010 3:59 am

Hello Sarah,

I’m not an expert on this but my impression was that it was such a slow and gradual change from one system to the other that it was just one big mess. I doubt if you can be sure about anything.

The Ebenezer Morris previously mentioned married Anne Jones, a spinster, in 1841. Her father’s name, on the marriage certificate, is John Williams, and that’s the old system.

Ebenezer was my G Grandfather’s brother. In the 1880s my G Grandfather wrote down the different farms where his parent’s used to live. That’s where I found them in 1841, ’51 and ’61.

His father, William Morris, married Sarah Jones in 1808. In 1851 and 1861 she’s with her husband and down as Sarah Morris but in 1841 there’s a woman there with matching particulars by the name of Sarah Williams. I’m sure that’s her even though relationships aren’t shown.

According to my reckoning these are three of their children from the IGI.

EBENEZER WILLIAM
Birth: 20 DEC 1810
Christening: 25 DEC 1810 Moriah Calvinistic Methodist, Carnarvon, Caernarvon, Wales
Father: WILLIAM MORRIS
Mother: SARAH JONES
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record.

MARGETT MORRIS (She Md. Evans and went to WI)
Birth: 23 JUN 1815
Christening: 30 JUN 1815 Brynengan Calvinistic Methodist, Llangybi, Caernarvon, Wales
Father: WILLIAM MORRIS
Mother: SARAH WILLIAM
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record.

JOHN MORRIS
Birth: 14 MAY 1821
Christening: 24 MAY 1821 Brynengan Calvinistic Methodist, Llangybi, Caernarvon, Wales
Father: WILLIAM MORRIS
Mother: SARAI JONES
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record.

Those three children appear to have changed surnames. Where’s Sarah getting the Williams surname from in 1815 and 1841? Sarah’s father’s name was William Jones and I guess that was the surname she was given at birth under the old system.

I think I would vote for Hugh Price being the husband of the woman you mentioned but nothing would surprise me.

All the best,
Alan

Post Reply