| Welsh Genealogy |
| Sources of Welsh Family History information Cont. |
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| Bishops Transcripts. Bishops Transcripts are also a source for baptisms, marriages and burials before 1837. Each parish in England and Wales had to send annually to the Bishop a copy of entries in the Parish Registers and these were called Bishops Transcripts. The original copies of the Bishops Transcripts are held at The National Library of Wales but local copies on microfilm are also available in some Archive Offices. Another consideration for this person born in 1816 is that he or she may have been a nonconformist and therefore the baptism record or burial may be in a Chapel register. Chapel registers can cover the period between about 1795 and 1837.Most of the original chapel registers are now in the National Library of Wales but some are still held in local Archive record Offices, or in the possession of the chapel, if it is still an active chapel. All marriages of nonconformists before 1837 were recorded in the Church Parish Registers. Marriage Bonds. Another very useful source of Marriage information are the Welsh Marriage Bonds and Allegation documents held at the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth.. These cover the period 1661 �1837 and the index to all these records are available free on the internet, and copies of the document can be purchased from the National Library of Wales. Providing the persons concerned were married by licence, these documents can be very useful, when the situation is such that the Parish Registers and the Bishops transcripts have been lost, or are difficult to read because of damage. Perhaps I should explain what a marriage bond and allegation is - Before marrying in a Parish Church, you had to make sure that there was no impediment to the marriage .The usual way of doing this was by publishing banns, but better off people could avoid publicity and delay by marrying with a licence . In Wales a licence would be issued in a Bishops name and to obtain a licence the bridegroom would appear before a surrogate, who was a person who was authorised to act on behalf of the Bishops Court in the granting of marriage licences , The bridegroom would then have to swear on oath that he knew of no impediment to the marriage. The oath was then recorded in a document known as an affidavit or allegation. Until 1823, the bridegroom and a friend would also enter into a Bond, obliging them to pay a sum of money .The bonds were known as marriage bonds. If an impediment to the marriage should come to light, or the condition of the marriage should be breached, then the bridegroom and his friend would forfeit a considerable amount of money noted in the bond. The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. There is an enormous amount of documents, manuscripts, books and information relating to Family history research held at the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth,- I can only list a few here � 1841-1901 Census records for the whole of Wales. Welsh Wills from 1521 �1858. Copies of almost all the Welsh books which have been published . Local and national Welsh Newspapers, journals and periodicals from all over Wales. Bishops Transcripts original and on microfilm. Nonconformist Chapel records. Records of the court of great sessions in Wales. 1730-1830 Estate records, title deeds, rental and Account books. Index of Births, Marriages and Deaths in Wales from 1837 �the present. Morman Church Family History Centres. There is of course a problem in accessing all this wealth of information at Aberystwyth while living in Essex, since a great deal of time is sometimes needed to search and read the information you are looking for. Fortunately there is a solution to this nearer to hand and that is at the Latter Day Saints or Mormon Church Family History Centres. The nearest of these centres to Chelmsford is at Hornchurch with bigger Centres at Cambridge and Ipswich. There is no charge for using the facilities at these centres and more importantly the people there are very helpful and there is no pressure put upon you to join the Mormon Church when you use the facilities. The Morman Church has a very comprehensive site on the internet which is free to use. There is an index of most of the the entries in the Welsh Bishops transcripts and many Welsh chapel records, all the Census records from 1841 -1901, and listings of information relating to Family History for all the parishes of Wales including. The original information for all these records has been transferred on to microfilms which are identified on the indexes on the internet. It is then possible to order these microfilms for a modest fee of about �2-50 per micro film.The microfilms ordered can then be viewed on the viewers provided in the Centres and take about 3 weeks to arrive depending on availability. Internet. There is a vast amount of Family history information available on the internet with information being added almost daily. The Booklet �Family History on the web� is very useful directory for identifying these web sites. County Archives. As well as the National Library of Wales there are other local County Archives scattered all over Wales . For instance in North Wales they can be found at Caernarfon, Llangefni, Dolgellau, Llandudno, Bangor University, Ruthin , Hawarden and Wrexham. The information which these archives hold will be mainly related to the area around where they are located. |
| Welsh Geneology - continued |