G'day Estelle, I can help a little, I think. The B after James Watts, FA, will more than likely be a shorthand for Bachelor. You will probably find that Joseph Wayman was something like the parish clerk. He would have prepared the entry and signed it as a witness to the entry. (something like a true record signature, saying that the event occurred on that day in that place.) I can't help you with the B after Mary Williams though. John Williams could be the bride's father or brother acting as a witness to his daughter/sister's wedding as could Mary be her mother, sister or sister-in-law acting in the same capacity. I know my grandmother had her brother and sister-in-law act as her witnesses at her wedding. As for the comma's. There are a few possibilities. One is that the transcriber put a comma in the transcript to indicate an empty column in the original register. That seems unlikely though as that would mean a further 11 or 12 columns in the register. Similarly, if the transcriber had used a comma delimitation protocol to convert the text of the transcription to a tablular format it would still give a larger number of columns than is regular in Anglican Church registers (from the few photocopies that I've seen) Sorry for the jargon but it means that for every comma in the text the program would generate a column and the comma would not be printed. To separate the lines there would have been a paragraph mark at about halfway - say before Elizabeth and after dead so that the two people's details would appear under one another. Then another after Blacksmith, and another somewhere after the B following Mary Williams. It's a possible solution but the only person who could really help you is the person who transcribed the record and he or she may not be available to help. Suffice to say that in transcription of records for FreeBMD there is a strict set of rules to follow. The major ones are (1) Type what you see. (2) If you can't read all or part of an entry, don't guess at what you think the originator might have written. (3) Each entry gets a new line. Hope this helps Regards Ray Lewis Hazelmere Western Australia Surname Interests in Monmouthshire: Jones; Lewis; Prosser http://www.LostCousins.com/?ref=LC894461 -----Original Message----- From: monmouthshire-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:monmouthshire-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Estelle Daniels Sent: Tuesday, 30 January 2007 2:01 PM To: MONMOUTHSHIRE@rootsweb.com Subject: [MON] Help with Parish Record Transcript please Hello Listers, As a result of Ian's helpful post to Jan earlier today of the following site: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~monfamilies/myfamily-history.htm I have been able to find the marriage of my great grandparents on the following page: Trevethin Parish Record Transcripts - Parish Record Marriages 1655  1945+ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~monfamilies/trev-marr-w-y.htm 4/3/1849, James, Watts, , FA, B, haulier, Pontypool, William Watts, dead, Elizabeth, Williams, , FA, Spin, , , John Williams, blacksmith, Joseph Wayman, John Williams, Mary Williams, B, , , , , , , , , , , , Would someone mind helping me "translate" the information please. I understand that James WATTS of Full Age (dont know the B) He was a Haulier at Pontypool. William WATTS, his father, is dead. He married Elizabeth WILLIAMS a spinster of full age. Were the following people attendants or witnesses? I notice that Joseph WAYMAN shows up quite a bit on the transcripts. After Mary WILLIAMS there is another "B" which Im not sure about. Then the commas - does that mean there is more to the entry and if so how would I go about finding out what it was? Many thanks for any help, Estelle (in Australia) _________________________________________________________________ Join the millions of Australians using Live Search. Try live.com.au http://ninemsn.com.au/share/redir/adTrack.asp?mode=click&clientID=740&referr al=million&URL=http://live.com.au

There is a standard in the transcriptions. B after the grooms name does mean Bachelor, S or Spin means spinster, W or Wid means widow/er. B at the end or Li means married by Banns or by Licence. If there is an x next to a name it means they signed their mark. Father's name and occupation is given and then the witnesses. So Joseph Wayman and James Saunders were witnesses and they all signed their names. Hope that helps. If anything does need clarifying you could probably ask Mike to check the original. I have no idea why the commas are there. They mean nothing that I am aware of. regards Lyn in Oz ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray Lewis" <harveyjl@iinet.net.au> To: <monmouthshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 3:58 PM Subject: Re: [MON] Help with Parish Record Transcript please > G'day Estelle, > > I can help a little, I think. The B after James Watts, FA, will more than > likely be a shorthand for Bachelor. You will probably find that Joseph > Wayman was something like the parish clerk. He would have prepared the > entry > and signed it as a witness to the entry. (something like a true record > signature, saying that the event occurred on that day in that place.) > > I can't help you with the B after Mary Williams though. John Williams > could > be the bride's father or brother acting as a witness to his > daughter/sister's wedding as could Mary be her mother, sister or > sister-in-law acting in the same capacity. I know my grandmother had her > brother and sister-in-law act as her witnesses at her wedding. > > As for the comma's. There are a few possibilities. One is that the > transcriber put a comma in the transcript to indicate an empty column in > the > original register. That seems unlikely though as that would mean a further > 11 or 12 columns in the register. Similarly, if the transcriber had used > a > comma delimitation protocol to convert the text of the transcription to a > tablular format it would still give a larger number of columns than is > regular in Anglican Church registers (from the few photocopies that I've > seen) Sorry for the jargon but it means that for every comma in the text > the > program would generate a column and the comma would not be printed. To > separate the lines there would have been a paragraph mark at about > halfway - > say before Elizabeth and after dead so that the two people's details would > appear under one another. Then another after Blacksmith, and another > somewhere after the B following Mary Williams. > > It's a possible solution but the only person who could really help you is > the person who transcribed the record and he or she may not be available > to > help. Suffice to say that in transcription of records for FreeBMD there is > a > strict set of rules to follow. The major ones are (1) Type what you see. > (2) > If you can't read all or part of an entry, don't guess at what you think > the > originator might have written. (3) Each entry gets a new line. > > Hope this helps > Regards > Ray Lewis > Hazelmere Western Australia > > Surname Interests in Monmouthshire: Jones; Lewis; Prosser > > > http://www.LostCousins.com/?ref=LC894461 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: monmouthshire-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:monmouthshire-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Estelle Daniels > Sent: Tuesday, 30 January 2007 2:01 PM > To: MONMOUTHSHIRE@rootsweb.com > Subject: [MON] Help with Parish Record Transcript please > > Hello Listers, > As a result of Ian's helpful post to Jan earlier today of the following > site: > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~monfamilies/myfamily-history.htm > > I have been able to find the marriage of my great grandparents on the > following page: > > Trevethin Parish Record Transcripts - Parish Record Marriages 1655  1945+ > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~monfamilies/trev-marr-w-y.htm > > 4/3/1849, James, Watts, , FA, B, haulier, Pontypool, William Watts, dead, > Elizabeth, Williams, , FA, Spin, , , John Williams, blacksmith, Joseph > Wayman, John Williams, Mary Williams, B, , , , , , , , , , , , > > Would someone mind helping me "translate" the information please. > > I understand that James WATTS of Full Age (dont know the B) He was a > Haulier > at Pontypool. William WATTS, his father, is dead. He married Elizabeth > WILLIAMS a spinster of full age. Were the following people attendants or > witnesses? I notice that Joseph WAYMAN shows up quite a bit on the > transcripts. After Mary WILLIAMS there is another "B" which Im not sure > about. Then the commas - does that mean there is more to the entry and if > so how would I go about finding out what it was? > > Many thanks for any help, > Estelle > (in Australia) > > _________________________________________________________________ > Join the millions of Australians using Live Search. Try live.com.au > http://ninemsn.com.au/share/redir/adTrack.asp?mode=click&clientID=740&referr > al=million&URL=http://live.com.au > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MONMOUTHSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message