If your ancestors were Catholic, you may find that you struggle to find parish records online. The National Archives has provided a guide to help in research. Between 1754 (Marriage Act) and 1837 it was a legal requirement for all marriages to take place in an Anglican church. Many Catholics also married in a Catholic church, with the record of this marriage never being handed in to the authorities. Because of this, some Catholic baptism and burial records that were contained in the same register might also be missing. It is not unusual to find that a couple married in…
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Many of Ireland’s historic records were destroyed by a fire in 1922. Now a project is hoping to bring many of these records back to life. What happened to the original records? In the mid 19th century, it was feared that records, particularly those held by parishes, were in danger of deteriorating and being destroyed. In 1867 the UK parliament passed the Public Records (Ireland) Act, which was further amended in 1873. The act instructed that all court, probate and parish records should be collected and stored at the Public Records Office, located in the Four Courts Complex in Dublin.…
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My grandad told me many times that his father and uncle where at the mass trespass at Winter Hill near Bolton in 1896. As this is the 125th anniversary, it seems like a good time to write a brief post about the event. Today Winter Hill is probably best known as the home of a television and radio transmitter, but in the 19th century its open moorland was a place for the residents of Bolton to escape the overcrowding, noise and grime of the town. The land was owned by Colonel Richard Henry Ainsworth of Smithills Hall, and used by…
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Euxton in Lancashire was home to two of Lancashire’s oldest Catholic families, the Andertons and the Molyneuxs. The Molyneuxs were the biggest landowners in the area, while the Andertons initially leased and later purchased Euxton Hall from them. One branch of my maternal family, the Higginson were Catholics from Euxton who worshipped in secret at Euxton Hall during Catholic persecution in the 17th century. Euxton Hall History St Mary’s Catholic Church, Euxton There has been a Catholic church in Euxton since at least the 1500s. Following the Reformation, and from the persecution of Elizabethan times, Catholics in Euxton practised at…
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While researching my family history, I found that some of the streets people had lived on in Bolton no longer existed. I compiled a list and then used census searches to locate surrounding streets that still exist, along with the National Library of Scotland‘s side by side map viewer to pinpoint their locations. This is by no means a complete list of all Bolton’s lost streets, and if you would like me to add any others, let me know. I will be adding to the list as I come across more ancestors’ addresses. Map of Bolton in 1931 from the…
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The 1939 Register is a snapshot of live in England and Wales at the beginning of World War II. It was taken on Friday, 29th September, under the National Registration Act of 1939, an act of parliament introduced as an emergency measure preceding the start of World War II. The register’s importance to genealogists is increased because there was no 1941 census, and the 1931 census was destroyed in a fire in 1942. What does the register show us? Address, including the house number Name – surname (including later amendments for surname changes) and forenames Gender Date of birth –…
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Updated: September 2024 In the United Kingdom, a census of the population has been taken every 10 years since 1801, except for 1941 (although a similar register was taken on 29 September 1939, shortly before the outbreak of war).In Ireland, the census was taken along with the UK census until 1911. No census, was taken in Ireland in 1921 because of the Civil War. The first census taken by the Irish government was in 1926. Census records are released to the public a hundred years after they were taken, meaning the latest census we can view is 1921 (although the…
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There are a great number of genealogy websites out there. Some offer worldwide coverage, from birth marriage and deaths through census data to passenger lists and newspaper archives. Others focus on one subject or one region, with some focusing on a single town. Many are free and some are either subscription or pay as you go. Free Sites Most of these sites are free to search and to view the transcripts of the information. Some require a subscription (or link to a subscription site) to view the original record.