Baldock/Fagg/Small Family History

This week Find My Past finally released  a chunk of Kent parish registers onto their site, accessible by those of us with a full subscription.

At first we were led to believe that it would be Thanet and coastal parishes which would arrive, yet there appear to be far more. I have personally already started browsing the Eastry registers.

Church of St Mary the Virgin, Eastry, Kent (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yes, I said ‘browsing’. Brightsolid have not yet indexed the registers, and I have already reported a couple of issues, yet to receive a reply. However, it has to be said that they should be commended for the release, well overdue in my opinion. The images are of very good quality (bar the couple I found which were ‘fuzzy’ and illegible), and probably much better than any of us could achieve by printing from the CCA microfiche.

The deal with Brightsolid has hopefully brought welcome license fees into the Cathedral coffers, especially since the Archives are closed whilst repair work is undertaken. This is surely not a coincidence, and will help out Kent genealogists, whether seeking or residing.

A recent announcement by Brightsolid, the publishers of FindMyPast.co.uk, indicates that they have entered an arrangement with Canterbury Cathedral Archives to provide digital access to their Kent parish records. This coincides with the closure of the Archives for roof repairs until autumn 2012.

Records will be rolled out gradually, and will include Thanet, coastal towns from Whitstable round to Hythe, and one would assume eventually all Kent PRs held at CCA. Initially, only scans will be viewable, but indexes are promised to follow.

It is not clear whether Bishop Transcripts and/or Archbishop Transcripts will be included.

Those of you who are not able to afford subscriptions to multiple genealogy sites may have been jealous of those who have access to the very useful 1911 census data at FindMyPast.

However, Ancestry recently announced that they will be rolling out 1911 data this year. Until such time as actual schedules are available, they have started providing images of the Census Enumerator Summary Books. These give house-by-house summaries of the parish, along with head-of-household’s name and the number of male & female residents. This is a nice way to locate your ancestors’ abode, and maybe even determine that their property still exists. Of course, if the address no longer exists, it helps determine where it was in the village or town of today…

Happy hunting!