Carol Carlson asks: >I have been using the suggestions recently posted regarding the IGI and had great success with it. My question is, since there was not a census at the time period in which I am researching (late 1700's, early 1800's), is this considered a primary source - not the IGI itself, but the church records on film at the LDS library? Or are the church records a secondary source? At what point did the government start recording births and issuing birth certificates? - which are considered a primary source, right?< Parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are primary records (for some churches - mainly baptists - there is a dedication at birth and later an adult baptism). The government started registers of births, marriages and deaths in July 1837. Church records of christenings, marriages and burials after July 1837 are still a primary source. Note that Bishops Transcripts are copies from the parish registers - made within the parish to send to the Bishop. Note also that the LDS library does not have all church records on film. It is always worth checking with the relevant Record Office, and looking at the National Index of Parish registers published (usually a book per county) by the Society of Genealogists. regards, David Hawgood.

On Wed, 11 Apr 2001 16:54:41 -0400, you wrote: >Bishops Transcripts are copies from the parish registers - made within the >parish to send to the Bishop. Although this is the ideal state of affairs the actuality is occasionally a little different ie one does sometimes find differences between the Parish Registers (PRs) and the Bishops Transcripts (BTs) eg at Bridport, Dorset there are a number of baptisms which appear in the 18th Century BTs but not in the PRs, despite ISTR some of the BTs being signed as true copies by the vicar and a church warden - one of the latter being a distant rellie - we think :-) It should be emphasised that although most vicars appeared to be very conscientious some vicars at this time didn't take their clerical duties too seriously: in view of their background and upbringing some were more interested in their social round than bothering with church duties! There is an interesting item written in 1868 in Notes and Queries asking the question "What Becomes of Parish Registers?" which is quite an eye opener: see: http://erl.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ilej/image1.pl?item=page&seq=5&size=1&id=nq.1868.2.29.1.9.x.197 and the item on Chickerell says something about the validity of a few of the entries too :-) Which all adds up to the answer - yes the PRs are the prime source, but if you are able to check both the BTs too, then this is advisable. Similarly Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates raised under civil registration can also have transcription errors and a check of the PRs can sometimes clarify an anomaly. I have a marriage certificate where the wrong person was patently entered as the father of the bride, and from the Parish Register I was able to find the correct info! Regards Paul Portland For 19th Century Newspaper Extracts see: http://members.netscapeonline.co.uk/pbtyc/News_Extracts/News_Extracts_Index.html