This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: jimlancaster94 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.britisles.england.lan.general/52686.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: You wrote - > I have been unable to find family members who I know were living in the Prescot/Knowsley area in the late 18th/early 19th century in any parish records of the region and one reply states that few Non-Conformist records have been published. This is true and in this context you must consider Papists / Popish Recusants / Catholics. The early Catholic registers that exist from this period have been deposited for safe keeping in the Lancashire Archives in Preston. The on-line catalogue for deposited church registers can be read at http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/web/?siteid=4528&pageid=30843&e=e This gives the details of the registers held but not copies of the entries. In 1767, the House of Lords ordered a survey of Catholics and the returns for the Diocese of Chester are very similar to a present day Census. These have been transcribed and published by the Catholic Record Society as - "Returns of Papists, 1767, Diocese of Chester" trans. E.S. Worrall, Catholic Record Society (Occasional Pub No. 1) (1980). Lancashire was (and still is) a particularly Catholic part of the country, especially the part to the west of the old A6. This publication shows that there were over 1500 Catholic in Prescot Parish in 1767, all of them named, with ages and occupations. Hope this helps Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board. <br>