Parish Chest - advice

[smariac]

Hi

Just wondered if any of you have purchased any items from "parish chest" - i'm looking for Lincolnshire parish records pre 1850 and unable at this stage to get to Lincoln .

They seem to sell the Lincolnshire records - but does anyone know do these come in cd form and what sort of information they hold ( looking at the marriage and the batispm ) and do you think it would be worth buying one or would it be better for me to wait until I can get to Lincoln

Thanks for any advice

Sharon

[Lynn The Forest Fan]

have you tried Genfair? They sell records from the Lincs FHS & is where I buy my Lincolnshire cds from. There is good coverage, it just depends which area you are looking for

[Cloggie]

Both the Parish Chest and the GENfair sites include descriptions of the products they sell.

On the Parish Chest site, clicking on Societies & Groups in the menu on the left brings up a list of suppliers. In that list, clicking on "Lincolnshire FHS" brings up a list of records from Lincolnshire FHS: http://www.parishchest.com/shop/inde...ncolnshire+FHS (scroll down on the page for a list of categories).
This includes some Parish Registers, Monumental Inscriptions and Poor Law Records on CD-ROM. Click on the links of the individual categories for more information on the records available.
You can also enter the name of a parish, county, etc., in the search box to search for available records.

The same applies to the GENfair site: http://www.genfair.co.uk/
Just click on the "Suppliers" link at the top of the page, or enter a search term (parish name, county name, etc.) in the search box, or click on the county on the map to see what they have.

[wulliam]

Another option would be to join Lincolnshire FHS - it's an excellent society with LOTS of useful resources.

[Janet]

The Parish Chest can be very useful but it is pot luck when you purchase a CD if it contains the information you want. In the main I think the various Family History Society CD's probably have more information on their CD's, but I have purchased both and have been pleased with both.

Janet

[modem]

The real benefit of buying local FHS CDs through Parish Chest or GENfair is being able to order and pay for them on line. Many, if not most, of the FHSs do not have this facility.

[Anne in Carlisle]

Do try and check out if the resources are actual images of the parish records, or transcriptions.

Lots of FHSs put a lot of effort onto making transcriptions and they are wonderful BUT - you can't beat seeing the original yourself and interpreting what it says in relation to your own family. Some of the Lincolnshire parishes I have looked at at the Lincoln Archives are extremely difficult to read! With a transcription you are getting the best effort of the transcriber, but with the actual image (either bought on CD or seen at Lincoln) you can make a decision after struggling with it yourself!

Anne

[Cloggie]

The Parish Chest can be very useful but it is pot luck when you purchase a CD if it contains the information you want. In the main I think the various Family History Society CD's probably have more information on their CD's, but I have purchased both and have been pleased with both.

Many Family History Societies sell the same publications through their own websites and Parish Chest/GENfair. As modem says, the difference is that you can pay online for purchases made through Parish Chest and GENfair, whereas most Family History Societies themselves do not have this facility.

The link I gave in my post above lists the publications from the Lincolnshire FHS which are available through the Parish Chest website. There are also descriptions of what the individual CDs, microfiche, etc., contain.

The Lincolnshire FHS site itself also says "Buy our publications online at www.genfair.com or www.parishchest.com"

And in the case of Bedfordshire FHS: "Some of the items are available on our on-line bookstalls which means you can order them on the Internet and pay for them with your credit card with no worries over currency conversation. More items will be added very soon. Go to http://www.genfair.com or http://www.parishchest.com"

[Janet]

Sarah

Yes, I understand what you are saying as to what happens today. In the past the CD's I have bought from the Parish Chest have ben different CD's, not done by the FHS and these have been the ones which were "pot luck" but still interesting.

Janet

[Cloggie]

I see. I didn't realise you were talking about the past. I was just pointing out that many (though not all) of the CD-ROMs available through Parish Chest and GENfair as the same as those available through the FHS.

[Lynn The Forest Fan]

I bought my Lincs FHS ones via Genfair to be able to pay online