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  • Cirencester document search

    I am going to be in England from the States next week and if time allows, I would like to do a bit of local research. My ancestor (William Petty) and at least one of his sons (John Petty) emigrated to the British American Colonies in the mid 1700's. Their birth place is listed as Cirencester, as was William's father, also named William. I am hoping to confirm this and was hoping there might be one or two stops I could make in the area to do a search.

    Also, the younger William was married to Jane Snodon if there is a way to search marriage records...if they were even kept.

    Anyone have any ideas or advice?

    Best Regards,

    Mike Petty

  • #2
    Welcome to FTF!

    Cirencester is in Gloucestershire, so the relevant archives may well be here: http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives
    That site should give you opening hours plus any rules about what ID you might need if you wish to have sight of original documents.
    This part of the site is specifically devoted to family tree research: http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/in...rticleid=17142
    And this to Cirencester: http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/in...rticleid=22825
    Cirencester Local and Family History Centre
    Newspapers and periodicals
    {including} Cirencester Flying Post for 1742
    In case you haven't already picked up on this: names are often spelled with a surprising degree of flexibility (see my footer!). SNODON, for example, may well appear as SNOWDON, SNOWDEN, SNOADEN, ...
    And that takes no account of the opportunities for mistranscription and misunderstanding!

    The Gloucestershire Family History Society (http://www.gfhs.org.uk/) may also be worth contacting.

    It is likely that parish registers of that age will have been deposited for safe-keeping at the County Archives. The Anglican (Church of England) churches have a website: http://www.cirenparish.co.uk/ There may be some useful contact info there. If you're wanting to look at gravestones, their administration may be able to point out any hazards at particular graveyards, for instance. This page has info about the parish church itself: http://www.cirenparish.co.uk/pchistory.htm

    I hope these include some useful ideas for you to follow up on.

    I hope you enjoy your visit and have an interesting time.
    Christine
    Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

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    • #3
      Wow, thanks so much. My web search has been so confusing. There was a William Petty that lived at the same time in the same area, but he was an Earl, and whenever I do a web search, his name is usually in the first zillion hits or so. Thanks for the archive leads.

      Mike

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      • #4
        Is this page at all reliable for you?


        Christine
        Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

        Comment


        • #5
          I eliminated a lot of unwanted hits in this way:

          "William Petty" Cirencester -"sir William Petty" -marquess -Earl
          I don't know if you know that Google can be persuaded into some useful specifics...
          "William Petty" is a single search term, where it would be two separate terms without the inverted commas.
          the "-" in front of a term means that pages with that expression are excluded.

          Christine
          Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

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          • #6
            Root's Web

            That was very helpful. Also, the Gloucester lead was a good one. I Think I found a document on William Petty that i will try to get while I am there. Thanks so much.

            Comment


            • #7
              Good luck. I have ancestors from the Cirencester area and despite being in England have yet to make the journey to Glos. If you can do it from Michigan I'm sure I can manage it too!
              ~ with love from Little Nell~
              Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

              Comment


              • #8
                It's very pleasing, Mike, to feel that I've been able to help. It's nice to put something back in return for the help I've received from others.

                Do let us know if you manage to find anything interesting!

                Also - if you have the chance, do take some photos of any places of worship in Cirencester. There seems to be none for Cirencester in the PoW project.

                This is where you can post links to any relevant photos (for Gloucestershire, anyway):


                Christine
                Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

                Comment


                • #9
                  Cirencester Parish Church is the big one, but there are other churches fairly close by which are now in the town, so don't rule them out without good reason. I have had occasion to deposit some modern records [not Ciren!] with the Glos County Record Office (which acts as the Diocesan Record Office as well) as well as do some research and found the staff to be very helpful (and busy!). It is quite a small operation, in a former school.

                  NB Gloucester Diocese does not cover exactly the same ground as historic Gloucestershire, so some parishes in neighbouring counties should be researched in Gloucester and perhaps a few in Glos in neighbouring Record Offices. Contact between County Record Offices is good, so they would be able to point you in the right direction, but a preliminary phone call or web check would be a good idea to make sure who has the actual records. Comparable comments would apply to other Dioceses and Counties as well; Gloucester happens to be one where the boundary is a fairly good fit with the county of the same name.

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