Parish registers query

[Ann from Sussex]

What is the difference between general registers and other forms of parish registers? I've been looking into OH's Parker family in the registers for Little Bytham on the Lincs to the Past website. Instead of separate registers for baptisms, marriages and burials, they have images of something called the general register which lists them altogether for each year. I was going along swimmingly until I got to part way through 1751 when this had been written at the bottom of the page:

"NB. Here is a chasm from this year 1751 to the year 1758 which I can't find the papers to fill up. W.Gascoigne. Curate".

The next page begins in July 1758.

Now, somebody seems to have found "the papers" for that period at some time because the IGI has OH's 4xgt grandfather's baptism in Little Bytham in 1757. There are other baptisms on there for some of his siblings born in the missing years too. I know we can't take the IGI's word for things but these records do have batch numbers (some the same as pre-1751 records which I've verified in the general register) and all the details as to date and parents' names are there, suggesting to me that something must have been seen and filmed. Does this mean that there is another register besides the one Lincolnshire Archives have put online? Was the "general register" something like Bishop's Transcripts; i.e. a copy of the main registers?

[ElizabethHerts]

Ann, in some of the registers I have seen they skip all over the place and you have to trawl through page by page because sometimes entries are made completely out of sequence, with the vicar filling in odd blank spaces randomly.

[Nell]

I think the difference is that there used to be one register for all parish events and later on they began to keep separate ones for baptisms, marriages and burials.

[Nell]

As for missing bits - my gt x 2 grandmother's baptism and several others were all entered sometime after the dates they took place, "on the declaration of the parents" by a new curate as the previous one had been too ill to fill it in!

[Ann from Sussex]

I've got as far as 1770 now and there is no sign of the missing years. In fact, I've found the burial in 1762 of a hitherto unknown child for this family with no baptism that I can see so I'm guessing she was born between 1751 and 1758. She isn't on the IGI. Oh, and I've found out that the father of this family (OH's 5xgt grandfather) was Churchwarden in 1762 because he signed the register at the end of the year with the curate (who was called Wade Gascoigne. Lol - he sounds like a footballer!).

What a womderful site Lincs to the Past is. It can be a bit hard going to find what you want but when you do, bingo!

[Elderflower]

If you go to the Family Search Catalogue here:
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=topicdetails&subject=395269&subject_disp=England%2C+Lincoln%2C+Little+Bytham+% 2D+Church+records&columns=*,0,0
you will see that there are various films available for Little Bytham. The BTs seem to be for all the years between 1561 to 1838 but the PRs (when you click on the title and then Film Notes) have a gap between 1751 and 1758. I suspect that the transcriptions have been made from the BTs. If you searched for it on the new familysearch site i.e.not using the old version of the site, if the record shows the indexing was VR, this means it was originally the British Vital Records. This was not on the IGI but was only available on CD. These records were transcribed from the BTs. They are now being made available on the latest familysearch website.

This might sound garbled but if you post the details of the person concerned I will check it out and post you the links.

Pat

[Ann from Sussex]

Thanks Pat. I was using the old familysearch site as I don't get on very well with the new one. The person I'm researching (OH's 4xgt grandfather) is:

JOHN (abbreviated to Jn.) PARKER baptised Little Bytham 6th August 1757, son of JAMES (abbreviated to Jas.) PARKER and HEPHSIBAH. The batch number is C011383.

[Elderflower]

Hmmm. I used the new search facility and the entry is on there twice and quotes the film number 1450481. Neither entry shows the source origin as VR so my theory posted earlier in not the answer in this case. I then did a film search in the FS catalogue using the film number from the two entries. This is what is says the contents are:

Title Parish registers for Little Bytham, 1681-1930
Authors Church of England. Parish Church of Little Bytham (Lincolnshire) (Main Author)

Note Location
Film
General register (baptisms, 1681-1705, 1707-1751, 1758-1793; marriages, 1681-1705, 1707-1749; burials, 1681-1705, 1707-1751, 1758-1792). Baptisms and burials, 1793-1813. Marriages, 1754-1812. Baptisms, 1813-1930. Marriages, 1813-1926. Burials, 1813-1849. FHL BRITISH Film
1450481 Item 6

From this it appears the Baptisms for 1757 are not on there - exactly what you said to start with!

I'm sorry but I have no idea how they have got them. 1757 does seem to be available on the BTs but that is a different film number from the one quoted in the two entries on familysearch.

Sorry my idea has led to a dead end.

Pat

[Ann from Sussex]

Thanks for your efforts Pat. The mystery remains then!

By the way, I love the curate's use of the word chasm to describe the gap in the registers. It's a good description of the problem I think as I have quite a few relatives who seem to have fallen into a chasm, never to be found again!

[Ann from Sussex]

Oh, I've just found the missing years on Lincs to the Past! They are on a typed page on page 52 of the 52 page sequence of images...so my guess is that the archives have transcribed them from the BTs. That must be where the IGI have their record from as Pat has suggested. There is our John's baptism in 1757 plus the burials of his grandmother and one of his brothers on consecutive days in 1756. Case solved!

[ElizabethHerts]

So pleased you have finally found them, Ann.

LincstothePast is a wonderful website. I found loads on there and must return to it for more.

[Nell]

Glad to hear there's a happy ending!