From: carogene <[email protected]> > What a perfect ending to a rather special day, > I have just visited the following website > http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/home.htm as recommended by > Tony, and may I just say that after reading the PR's of Shenley today, > it is just wonderful to see pictures of the actual church and to read > its history. > > The Rev Newcome who was the rector there for 49 years, seems to have > been a very caring person and did a great job of keeping the > registers. A wealth of extra detail has been added including many > statistics, his hand writing is easy to read - a real bonus! I feel I > got to know quite a few families from my readings today. Incidently, > as well as my BOOME family there were the following families listed : > GROOM, ROOM, and BROOM, so I took the time to read every entry just in > case! This really does bring history to life so to speak, as you can > follow each family through the baptisms, marriages and then deaths. If > ever you get the chance to read a film of the PR's for your parish, do > take it, as it adds a whole new dimension to just names and dates. > Cheers Carolyn> Unfortunately, so few incumbents took their duties as seriously, as most of us well know given the paucity of information in the average parish regisater. What a shame Hertfordshire never had registers similar to the famous Dade ones that we Yorkshire researchers enjoy from the 1770s to 1812, though it sounds from your description that the Rev Newcome thought along similar lines. -- Roy Stockdill Professional genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE