> > Has anyone encountered the names Isaac and John being used > > interchangeably? I'm trying to untangle the Kemish family of > > Michelmersh, Hants in the late 17th / early 18th century, and a lot of > > things would slot neatly into place if the Isaac who appears in the > > parish registers in the 1680s was the same man as the John who appears > > in the 1670s and 1690s. But I've heard heard of them being treated as a > > single name before. Has anyone else? > > > > Richard > > The recference to the "Commonwealth Gap" in replies interested me. What > records existed before the Commonwealth? From here in Oz, I think that the > furthest back I have been able to go is 1700. There SHOULD be parish registers from 1538, but not all the clergy could be bothered. Most had done something about it by c 1560, but sometimes on scruffy bits of paper. . However, Elizabeth (I) sent a directive about it, and ordered all registers to be 'copied on fair parchment' in 1598 'at least from the beginning of this reign' so again , there SHOULD be registers from 1558. Some are lost, some spoilt by damp, in my parish, they were burnt every 60 years, so what remains has gaps. There should be Bishops' Transcript copies from 1598 also. (but not all survive.) During the Commonwealth, because of the sloppy register keeping, the work was appointed to be done by a civil 'Parish Register' (person. from 1653-60. If these su4rvive, the actual keeping and amount of detail is mich better. At the restoration, some clergy burnt the civil register book - and then realised they had lost all records of the recent parish events. Some went round collecting group records from family bibles - most didnh't/ And Bishops were abolisdhed then so no BTs either. This is the commonwealth gap in some parishes. Add to that the fact that a lot of families refused to come back to the Church up to around 1680, and the gap widens. EVE Author of The McLaughlin Guides for Family Historians Secretary, Bucks Genealogical Society