how would i find out whos buried in a church yard where the names are not eligible and the church is not there

Question

alright smart ****------ legible

Answer 1

There should be a list of parish records stored at a near by church or in the council archives, perhaps even in the local library. You can find books on tracing up this sort of thing in the library too so that's a good place to start. This sort of search can be a lot of fun.

Answer 2

Hi there

Is it a church that's been deconsecrated and is now used for something else and so it's hard to tell what it was originally called?

I would suggest going to your nearest library that has a Local History department where you will be able to consult old directories/maps and find out the name of the church.

Then you need to ask the librarian where you can consult the parish records - they may have them there or you may need to make an appointment with your local Archive Service (it varies from area to area, in the Local Studies library where I work we hold the parish records).

Parish records are mostly now on microfilm or microfiche although some are available as paper transcripts. Again it depends on your area. They are normally arranged chronologically by event: baptisms, marriages, burials, banns.

Burial records normally include some or all of the following: the date of the burial; the person's name; their age at death; their last occupation; their last place of residence.

If you are lucky there may be a transcript of monumental inscriptions available - some of these were compiled a long time ago so even if the inscription on the stone is illegible now it may not have been when the transcript was done. Again, the librarian will be able to tell you what is available for this particular church.

Hope this helps, good luck with your search!

Answer 3

There comes a point in a person's genealogy research when it's simply a "dead end"...that's it and there is no more.

Sometimes a new church has taken over the records, sometimes it's better to go down the list of your relatives and ask if they belonged to that church and take what info that church gives you. Usually, if they were catholic, you'd have to ask the diocese for the records. If you're looking for someone who was in that church yard then maybe relatives know who are there or neighbors who lived in that area, or maybe there is info in the library where that church yard is located. Sometimes people were buried in the yard of where they lived.

Answer 4

You have some good answers so far and the usual number of inane responses by people who a mind reader would only charge half price.

If you don't find anything at the local church council or the special collections room of the library, try to county genealogical society.

It is possible you'll never find the records; if all church records were kept forever, in fire-proof vaults, genealogy would be much less thrilling and much more sure.

Answer 5

If you can find out who were some of the members of the church that are still living, or old pastor of the Church. Some one may have old church records. Or you could take paper and run charcoal over the paper while holding it on the headstone, it may not be visible however, still imprinted on the stone. good luck and god bless

Answer 6

Genuki.org.uk is a good source of information about parishes, their churches and the current location of the parish records/burial registers.

Often you will find that local family history/local history societies have transcribed old headstones before they became illegible/eligible ;-)

http://www.genuki.org.uk/

Answer 7

Check with nearby churches of the same denomination. The churches bible and book, where things like marriages, births, deaths, are listed, would have been turned over to another church.

Answer 8

If the tombstones are in some what decent shape there are two things you can do. Get a piece of paper hold it up to the tombstone and with a pencil rub it on the paper sideways. Or mist the grave and put paper up to it and rub with your hand. It will make the names more visible.

Answer 9

the council should hold a list of records, in the case should a corpse have to be exhumed for what ever reason, or try the next local church records may well have been transferred to there.

Answer 10

if it's say a church of england you could find out from the main church of that demonination..they keep all records