View Full Version : Oxfordshire research....
....Can it be done if you are not a multi-millionaire? :mad:
I am lucky in some ways that my Oxfordshire ancestors were mainly Quakers and I have access to their records through fiche I bought 15 years ago and now via ancestry Quaker Registers. However, as soon as I come across someone probably baptised in the C of E I come unstuck as I only have PRs (fiche again) for a handful of parishes and there doesn't seem to be any way to access other PRs other than buying CDs (not helpful if you don't know where your ancestor/family came from) or paying the Oxon FHS for lookups, which seem pretty restrictive.
I have used the Oxfordshire Archdeacon's Marriage Bond Index, but I think most of my ancestors are not included in it.
Any tips or ideas welcome! :)
Clearly I'm losing the plot as I have found some PRs on ancestry for Oxon and I know I have looked at them before. Any other ideas welcome!
ElizabethHerts
12-01-15, 12:13
Which parishes are you looking at, Merry?
I know I have paid quite a bit in CDs.
I was told over a year ago by phone by a person at Oxfordshire History Centre that they were going to digitalise the PRs. I got the impression it would be on FMP, but still no word.
Thanks very much Elizabeth.
I don't really know which parishes as my lot seem to move about quite a lot. Plus I always get worried there will be matching entries in a parish next door to the one I'm looking at.
I was just cross that I'd been sitting on the floor in the dining room (unheated!) looking at my Burford PR fiches (17 of them with no decent index) looking for a baptism only to find the stuff on ancestry afterwards. However, I see ancestry's records only kick in with Volume 2 of Burford's records and I needed the end of Volume 1, so not all in vain!
Now I need to know if Mary Wyatt is the one bap in 1714, 1721 or 1725 *sigh*. I will have to sit on the floor again later to check the burials. I hate being pleased to see a child has died....... :(
kiterunner
12-01-15, 12:22
Hopefully they will go the same way as Nottinghamshire FHS have just done, and licence their transcriptions to FMP or similar.
I do wish they would hurry up!!
I have to go out now, but can I deduce anything from finding an entry on the Oxfordshire Archdeacon's Marriage Bond Index (1743 William Smith and Mary Wyatt), but not finding the same entry on the Oxford Diocese Marriage Bonds and Affidavits, 1661-1850?
The second index is this one:
http://www.whipple.org/oxford/diocesan_marriage_bonds.html
(the first is a pdf mentioned in this post:)
http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/Forum/showthread.php?t=13627&highlight=oxfordshire
kiterunner
12-01-15, 13:04
There is this, suggesting that you can't deduce anything from it, written by the same person who wrote the introductory note on your link:
http://whipple.org/oxford/marriagebonds.html
Margaret in Burton
12-01-15, 13:21
I also need Oxfordshire records but Roman Catholic ones. Chipping Norton area. Even the diocese aren't sure where they are. OH visited a priest in Radford many years ago and looked at some but they were few and far between and in a right old mess, as was the priest. OH said he appeared to be covered in bird droppings ( to put it politely). :eek::D
As of 1st Dec 2014, OFHS had completed the digitisation of their holdings of parish records and had selected a partner to make them available online. They cited complex legal negotiations as the reason for not publishing the name of the provider at that time and said further news would be posted in due course here..... http://news.ofhs.org.uk/news/
ElizabethHerts
12-01-15, 14:04
Rick, that is very interesting. I just hope that we don't have too long to wait.
Thanks Kate.
Thanks Rick, I will be checking that link on a regular basis!
Marg - lol re the priest!
I first found out in September Merry and I've been checking every week since. I'm not known for my patience !!
The digitisation should be the longest part Elizabeth, so once the legals are resolved then loading and indexing the images shouldn't take too long. Mind you, it's almost three years since someone at the Gloucestershire archives let slip they were getting Ancestry to do theirs and I'm still waiting. Suffolk is also apparently on the way, but I don't know who the provider is there either.
kiterunner
12-01-15, 18:06
Suffolk is also apparently on the way, but I don't know who the provider is there either.
I hope they hurry up with that one!
Looking at the OFHS site.........
http://www.ofhs.org.uk/CDsales.html
If I look at the list of the PR transcripts available (at £17.50 a shot) there is nothing to say what the coverage dates are for each parish. However, towards the top of the page it states:
See Oxfordshire Parish Registers and Bishops Transcripts (see our Book Sales page) for full details of register and transcript availability.
So, I clicked the link for Book Sales, but the only ref I could see for Oxfordshire Parish Registers and Bishops Transcripts is this one:
BKS-OO-07 Oxfordshire Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts (by Colin Harris) £4.00
So, I have to pay £4 just to see the coverage of the CD costing £17.50?
I know £4 isn't a lot of money, but it sounds like a cash cow to me.
If I wanted to search all the parishes in a 5 miles radius I would have to buy four CDs - so £70 plus the £4.
:eek::eek::eek::eek:
Oh, does anyone have the £4 book? :D:D:D
kiterunner
13-01-15, 09:40
Google Book Search shows that some libraries have it, but none very near to you as far as I can see, Merry.
kiterunner
13-01-15, 09:44
But the OFHS site has a PDF with all the dates in; there are links to it on this page:
http://www.ofhs.org.uk/CDsales.html#prs
.......Well, now I know if I spent the £70 I would have a chance at getting back further, but only if my ancestors came from within about 5 miles of Swalcliffe and also not from Warwickshire which isn't too far!
Maybe I'll have to wait and see if they ever come online.......... :rolleyes:
Mary from Italy
14-01-15, 10:57
Most of Warwickshire's on Ancestry, if you need it.
I've been patiently waiting for Oxfordshire (and Suffolk) for ages. I hope they don't take too long before they get on line!
I have used the Search service of the OFHS a couple of times now, once with very good results, the other less so. I have to say, Dr Simpson, who does the lookups is a bit more flexible in what he will look for than the search page suggests, so it's not as frustrating as it looks.
http://searches.oxfordshirefhs.org.uk/index.html#types
I paid about £3 the first time and got back another generation in the 1600s with my Smiths, but the other line I was after don't seem to exist in Oxon though they appear in a will in 1710, but at least I now know that (for £1.50!) and think what that would have cost in fiche/CDs. for the whole county!
As well as looking for a specific surname, Dr Simpson has provided me with lists such as all the people baptised in a date range with the same father's forename across the county or all the people with the same surname from one parish etc etc. I think if the facility he uses will do the search he will do it and you can pay online which is easier than some other FHSs where you have to locate your cheque book! lol
Margaret in Burton
18-01-15, 17:14
Merry
Do you know if this guy undertakes Catholic research?
I don't know whether there are Catholic records amongst the non-con records on their site.
I've just had a look and the only mentions I can see are Monumental Inscriptions for
Chipping Norton, Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church
and
Eynsham, St Peter Roman Catholic Church
and some inclusions on these PR CDs:
BANBURY Reg. Dist.
Banbury, St. Mary, South, Christchurch, Methodist Circuit, Presbyterian, Quaker, Roman Catholic; Neithrop.
SOUTH OXFORDSHIRE
Brightwell Baldwin; Goring Countess of Huntingdon; Henley St. Mary; Henley Holy Trinity; Rotherfield Greys Ind.; Stonor Roman Catholic; Watlington Wesleyan.
Also, if you click this link,
http://www.ofhs.org.uk/OxfordshireParishRecordsDateFinderA-Z.pdf
try searching for RC with a space after it (otherwise you get all the references to the month of March!)
Basically, "not a lot" seems to be the answer! :(
Margaret in Burton
19-01-15, 09:41
As I thought. Just hoped some might have turned up after all of these years. The RC Diocese didn't seem to know of the whereabouts even. Lost I expect.
I have used the Search service of the OFHS a couple of times now, once with very good results, the other less so. I have to say, Dr Simpson, who does the lookups is a bit more flexible in what he will look for than the search page suggests, so it's not as frustrating as it looks.
I paid about £3 the first time and got back another generation in the 1600s with my Smiths, but the other line I was after don't seem to exist in Oxon though they appear in a will in 1710, but at least I now know that (for £1.50!) and think what that would have cost in fiche/CDs. for the whole county!
As well as looking for a specific surname, Dr Simpson has provided me with lists such as all the people baptised in a date range with the same father's forename across the county or all the people with the same surname from one parish etc etc. I think if the facility he uses will do the search he will do it and you can pay online which is easier than some other FHSs where you have to locate your cheque book! lol
Thanks Merry, I think it's just that I like to browse through PRs. :)
Most of mine are from South Oxon, in what was considered at the time (I'm told), a remote hamlet. Many were non conformists and the records for the local chapel are incomplete, so I don't hold out much hope of finding much more.
I think it's just that I like to browse through PRs.
So do I, however, I don't like restricting myself to a tiny group of parishes, but can't afford £70 to get a five mile radius on my starting parish, especially as I'd be wondering if the family had moved six miles away!
It's only a drop in the Oxfordshire ocean but these marriage bonds are free and online, one of my Badcocks crops up on it
http://www.whipple.org/oxford/marriagebonds.html
I found one of mine on there - £8 for a copy though and I've been waiting ages for it now!!
There's also this one:
http://www.whipple.org/oxford/diocesan_marriage_bonds.html
Unfortunately, it's very difficult to search it by the name of the bride if you are looking for a common name. I wanted to look for Ford, but I haven't been able to do that!! lol
Hi Merry, I had a quick look, and found 10 Ford Brides -
Elizabeth m Thomas Allam
Mar m. Ralph Dagly
Martha Fords m Thomas Didcom(b)
Mary Ann m Frederick Hart
Mary m Robert Maynard or Maynerd
Dorothy Minn m John Purser
Hester m William Ring
Mary m Richard Shaw
Mary Theodosia m John Sheppard
Hannah m Richard Walker
Thanks crawfie, I'll take a look at those.
Thanks for the Marriage Bonds link, Jill. I have seen it before, but I’ve downloaded it this time so I can have a better look. My only Oxfordshire name is Cox (all the males seem to have married women from outside the county), and there’s a possible marriage at Rotherfield Peppard that could be mine, but until I can find a baptism for James (bc 1767), it’s no good to me. The name is far too common :)
So do I, however, I don't like restricting myself to a tiny group of parishes, but can't afford £70 to get a five mile radius on my starting parish, especially as I'd be wondering if the family had moved six miles away!
I agree - it's too hit and miss to spend that amount of money. The way they've split up the parishes means buying several CDs.
Frustrating news for those waiting for Oxfordshire FHS to publish their parish registers online. Although you can now view the digitised registers at their History Centre, they said last week that due to "unavoidable reasons", it will be another two to three years before they come online.
ElizabethHerts
29-05-15, 12:20
Frustrating news for those waiting for Oxfordshire FHS to publish their parish registers online. Although you can now view the digitised registers at their History Centre, they said last week that due to "unavoidable reasons", it will be another two to three years before they come online.
AAAAAGH! Oh no, I was just looking at FMP's new releases and hoping that they would be added there or somewhere else soon.
Thanks for keeping us informed, Rick, it is appreciatede.
Margaret in Burton
29-05-15, 12:36
I somehow doubt it will help me with my needed Oxfordshire research when they are online as I need Roman Catholic records.
ElizabethHerts
29-05-15, 13:14
I know Merry will be disappointed.
I think I need to organise a visit to the Archives.
I even turned down the Ascott-under-Wychwood CD as a Christmas present, thinking that they would come online in the near future.
*tuts*
I wonder what "unavoidable reasons" are?
ElizabethHerts
29-05-15, 14:33
Frustrating news for those waiting for Oxfordshire FHS to publish their parish registers online. Although you can now view the digitised registers at their History Centre, they said last week that due to "unavoidable reasons", it will be another two to three years before they come online.
Rick, can you clarify where the digitised registers can be viewed, please?
Is it at the Oxfordshire History Centre run by Oxfordshire C.C. or is it a centre run by Oxfordshire F.H.S.? Now I have re-read your post I'm not quite sure.
It is the former...https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/public-site/oxfordshire-history-centre?utm_source=FURL&utm_medium=Friendly&utm_campaign=oxfordshire-history-centre
Here's the announcement on facebook...https://www.facebook.com/OxfordshireHistoryCentre/photos/a.1617471161820142.1073741828.1616995228534402/1642555052645086/?type=1&theater
*tuts*
I wonder what "unavoidable reasons" are?
I thought that was rather odd. They finished digitising them last year and supposedly had selected a partner to make them available online. Loading them into a database, transcribing and indexing them shouldn't take three years.
I just hope if they take that long that the transcriptions are more accurate than the ones Ancestry did for Gloucestershire !!
kiterunner
29-05-15, 15:13
I thought that was rather odd. They finished digitising them last year and supposedly had selected a partner to make them available online. Loading them into a database, transcribing and indexing them shouldn't take three years.
I just hope if they take that long that the transcriptions are more accurate than the ones Ancestry did for Gloucestershire !!
They could put the digitised images online for browsing before transcriptions and indexes are available - FMP have done this with some parish registers before now, and so have FamilySearch.
ElizabethHerts
29-05-15, 15:52
Thanks, Rick. I'm going to have to make the effort to go over there.
Update: OFHS propose to launch their digitised parish record collection with their still unnamed partner on 1st October 2016 at their Woodstock FH fair.
ElizabethHerts
28-10-15, 15:36
Thanks, Rick.
So still nearly a year away!
I'm not quite sure why there has been so much secrecy surrounding this.
Thanks Rick. Having waited 20 years, one more should pass (all too) quickly!
I agree, Elizabeth - why so cagey?
My guess is either that something went wrong during the legals (which we know were underway 10 months ago) or that they had a change of heart on how they were going to deliver it.
Knowing what a huge investment of time and energy such a project represents for a society, and how badly burnt many a larger organisation has been, I can't be surprised that cards are being played as tightly to the chest as possible.
Most family history societies punch far above their weight, with a dearth of volunteers, while the glory days, when we provided the only hope of access into the mysteries of the census are long gone.
Finally some word from the OFHS, even if it is still a little vague......."A couple of years ago, Oxfordshire Family History Society funded the scanning of about 4,000 parish registers of Oxfordshire. They had never been filmed, so the scans are a valuable back up, and can be viewed at Oxfordshire History Centre. As reported in our journal, in due course, subject to date constraints, they will be available worldwide on Ancestry.co.uk.
Snce then, more registers have been deposited, and so a further 78 Oxfordshire parish registers, including several for Kidlington, Oxford St Ebbe, Launton, Minster Lovell & Thame, were taken off site recently for scanning, again funded by Oxfordshire FHS."
"in due course"!!! lol Hope it's not too long :D
ElizabethHerts
07-03-16, 06:37
I am finding it very difficult being patient. *Drums fingers.*
Margaret in Burton
07-03-16, 13:40
My problem with needing Oxfordshire research is that I need Catholic records. I doubt these will be included.
It's official...http://www.ofhs.org.uk/fair.html
Yay!! Is it still October?
Yay!! Is it still October?
Saturday 1st October :)
I just went to add that to my phone calendar, but it's already there!
They announced it last year, but then it all went very quiet. It's almost 3 years since they started work on them.
I am so looking forward to it!
My Oxfordshire branch is the line I have back the furthest, despite them also being my Smiths! lol
I have Thomas, William & Elizabeth Harris to disentangle - should be fun !
ElizabethHerts
23-07-16, 16:59
I have just come back from the Buckinghamshire Family History Open Day and the Oxfordshire FHS were announcing the launch of the registers on Ancestry on October 1st at Oxfordshire FHS Family History Fair!
They also giving a 20% discount off Ancestry.
Margaret in Burton
23-07-16, 17:37
I need Oxfordshire but RC.
I have just come back from the Buckinghamshire Family History Open Day and the Oxfordshire FHS were announcing the launch of the registers on Ancestry on October 1st at Oxfordshire FHS Family History Fair!
They also giving a 20% discount off Ancestry.
I posted a link to the fair details on the previous page if anyone is thinking of going. The 20% discount is for members only (£9 to join).
I need Oxfordshire but RC.
The majority of RC records have not been sent to archives and remain with the incumbents. OFHS do have nonconformist registers as they sell them on CD, but it is unclear what is included in the 4000-plus registers launching on 1st Oct.
ElizabethHerts
23-07-16, 18:36
I posted a link to the fair details on the previous page if anyone is thinking of going. The 20% discount is for members only (£9 to join).
Yes, they were trying to get me to join!
If I joined all the FH Societies from the counties I'm interested in I'd be much the poorer!
Yay, at last! Hopefully, they include non conformist too.
Margaret in Burton
24-07-16, 11:54
The majority of RC records have not been sent to archives and remain with the incumbents. OFHS do have nonconformist registers as they sell them on CD, but it is unclear what is included in the 4000-plus registers launching on 1st Oct.
My husband visited the incumbent priest many years ago. Very disorganised person who couldn't find many records at all. Very disappointed.
Just a reminder that the Oxfordshire PRs launch on Ancestry on Saturday. That's my weekend sorted !!
kiterunner
29-09-16, 15:17
Nice.
If I had a list it would be massive.....but I don't :o:o:o
My list, if it existed, would also be massive. My one hope is that my ancient brick wall will be tumbled (did Thomas Harris marry two different people called Elizabeth, or just the one ?).
If I had a list it would be massive.....but I don't :o:o:o
I do have the advantage that it is not my family, but Best Mate's.
And without the help of those on this board she would still be wondering who "Jane" was :)
Just Gillian
30-09-16, 07:12
Just a reminder that the Oxfordshire PRs launch on Ancestry on Saturday. That's my weekend sorted !!
Yaay! I had lost track of when the launch was due.
Thanks for the reminder Rick :)
They are already there :) A bit flaky at the moment, but if you want an early look...
ElizabethHerts
30-09-16, 12:49
The results are there but the image page isn't opening yet. Very tantalising!
The images are opening for me, but I'm getting the odd error message.
Why can't I find them? Don't they have Oxford* in the title?
They aren't yet officially launched so probably not in the Catalogue and they do come and go
Death & Burials http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61059
Birth & Baptisms http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61057
marriages & banns http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61058
Composite register http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61056
Bother, first brick wall is still a brick wall! lol
Bother, first brick wall is still a brick wall! lol
Well I now know that the signatures of Thomas Harris in the two marriages do not look remotely alike. So as I've long suspected, there's only one Elizabeth. Just need to work out who she is now.
That's a good start.... so far I have....
Andrew Smith probably did marry Ann ? in Burford during the gap in their register, 1654-1657, as I don't see the marriage anywhere else.
Moses Smith was apparently buried four months after he died in 1802!!
Though there is a marriage bond for my 5xg-grandparents, William Smith and Mary Wyatt, dated 1743 they don't seem to have a marriage record anywhere (should be Burford or Witney).
And I spent an age clicking refresh to get the baptism of my 4xg-grandfather to appear, only to find I'd typed the wrong year, so am having another try! lol
I'm going to need a new F5 key at this rate.
Also some of the original marriage registers seem to be in the wrong place at the moment - in with the composite registers, instead of the 1754 onwards database.
I'm going to have to slow down as I'm finding so much I can't take it all in! (this is now I've moved away from actual brick walls)
kiterunner
30-09-16, 17:15
I'm going to need a new F5 key at this rate.
Also some of the original marriage registers seem to be in the wrong place at the moment - in with the composite registers, instead of the 1754 onwards database.
I think that usually happens with ancestry, sometimes because certain parishes didn't write the marriages in a separate book right away, or if they have to use the BT's instead of PR's, or of course by mistake!
I have noticed that when ancestry launches a new database, there are usually a few error messages at first, so hopefully those will go away after a day or two.
I will put a thread on the News board in a minute.
Just looking at my gggg grandparents marriage at St Mary, Witney. It's in a separate book dated 1802-1812 and the signatures are original, so not the BTs. They're definitely in the wrong database compared say to the Gloucestershire marriages.
Not that I'm complaining - I'm just happy they're finally online and the odd glitch before they official launch is to be expected.
Time to update my "two Elizabeths" thread and fix the mistake in my tree !!
I've found a baptism noted as a burial, and marriages in the wrong database, but as long as I can find them, I don't care!
ElizabethHerts
01-10-16, 08:07
I just love the burial entry for my ancestor Edmund Armesby (incorrectly transcribed):
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/61056/PAR036_1_R1_1_033/1645478?backurl=%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fgst%3d-6&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults
It's at the bottom of the left-hand page. They are claiming he was about 110!
He died in 1628/29, and he was fathering children in the 1590s, so I wouldn't have thought so!
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