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Bishop's transcripts

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  • Bishop's transcripts

    I have never used these as I read somewhere that the information they contain is not as accurate as the Parish records but I am thinking of having a look at them for one of my names as I seem to have drawn a blank

    What do they contain & are they worth checking? Has anyone actually found anything in them that wasn't in the PR's ?


    Thanks!


    Joanie

  • #2
    I haven't ever seen seen either PRs or BTs in the flesh, but did have a man from Lancashire check the BT for me after he found something odd written in a PR.

    The BT explained the whole mistake that had been written in the PR. Not sure if whoever wrote it was being extra careful or he knew the family, but I'd say it was worth checking.

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    • #3
      Yes, check the BTs if you can't find a thing in the PR.

      The BTs were supposed to be written up from the parish register at the end of the year, but some lazy Vicars wrote up the BT as they went along, and made a copy of it before they sent it away.

      So there can be mistakes/omissions in either. Best to check both.

      OC

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      • #4
        The BTs were completed by the vicar and sent to the bishop every.......Oh I don't remember?? Every year?? Obviously mistakes/omissions could occur depending on the vigilance of the vicar. Also he might leave out those little comments that everyone on here seems to see except me!!

        On the other hand if the vicar noticed something had been written incorrectly in the PR's he might enter it correctly in the BTs but not bother to correct the PRs. I had this when one of my family suddenly had a change of wife for the fifth of his nine children. The BTs gave the same wife for all his children. I'm sure this was a correction. Not many men marry two women called Lavinia with a Mary in the middle without burying one Lavinia, marrying the Mary or the second Lavinia!! lol

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        • #5
          Thanks Libby & OC ;)

          I knew you'd come up with the answer! Are they mostly handwritten then? Would the vicar have written them as well as recording the PR's or were they written up by another member of the church?

          Thanks!

          Joanie

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          • #6
            Sorry Merry we cross posted !

            Ah, now that would be interesting; I can't find my missing Alice, & I looked in the PR's to find that there were two baptisms in the same year for a child called Hannah, yet no death in between One of the baptisms I thought could have been an error on the vicar's part, & that he meant to write Alice, not Hannah. That could help me solve the mystery then!

            Thanks


            Joanie

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            • #7
              The larger churches would have had a parish clerk who did the writing up of the BTs.

              They were all handwritten...there was no alternative until the invention of the typewriter.

              There are certainly differences between the BTs and the PRs in my experience and as I said, you really have to check both if you can't find an event in one of them.

              OC

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              • #8
                I actually found MORE info in one instance on the BT compared to the PR.
                Last edited by annswabey; 11-07-08, 21:54. Reason: typo!
                The National Archives, Kew – Research Service Offered
                Contact me via PM on Family Tree Forum or via my personal website - www.militaryandfamilyresearch.co.uk

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                • #9
                  Thanks everyone, will check to see if they are available to order from my local LDS centre then.


                  Joanie

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                  • #10
                    I found more in the BTs for Braceby in Lincolnshire than in the Parish records.

                    It also told us that 3 of OH's Newton family were church wardens and had the dates for this. The church warden obviously wrote some of the parish records, and there was a separate section for the Newton family with all the christenings in one place! (It's a very small village and therefore easy to do)
                    Elizabeth
                    Research Interests:
                    England:Purkis, Stilwell, Quintrell, White (Surrey - Guildford), Jeffcoat, Bond, Alexander, Lamb, Newton (Lincolnshire, Stalybridge, London)
                    Scotland:Richardson (Banffshire), Wishart (Kincardineshire), Johnston (Kincardineshire)

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                    • #11
                      Thanks Elizabeth.

                      I don't suppose he is related to Sir Isaac then? Woolsthorpe is not that far away!


                      Joanie

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                      • #12
                        I've mostly tended to look in the BT's if the PR's are missing or illegible for the particular dates I want. Though sometimes the BT's are just as difficult to make out as the PR's!
                        KiteRunner

                        Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
                        (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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