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 Post subject: Amazing Dorset records on Ancestry
 Post Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 1:55 pm 
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I am a subscriber to Ancestry, and lately they have posted a treasure trove of information relating to Dorset. They have scanned parish records for all towns dating back to the 1500's. They also have thousands of wills.

But my most recent discovery which I am having great fun with is the "Poor Law" records. Again, they have scanned documents for every town and village, but the type and year of records vary. None of these records are indexed, you literally have to browse page by page, but it really is fascinating reading. Some are churchwarden documents, some are court documents, some are "woollen certificates", property records, resettlement records, etc. etc. One of my towns of interest was Wimborne Minster, and there is a wealth of information going back to even the 1400's. The Churchwarden records are very interesting, because they are the accounting of the church's finances by year (starting 1699) and there is lots of genealogical interest here. There is a listing of expenses, paying local people for services, helping poor people as they pass through town, ringing the bell for certain occasions, all listed in detail. People were charged a "church rate" and could buy pews and seats. They also paid to have the Great Bell rung and to rent the hearse and pulpit cloth in the event of a funeral. It records who paid, and for whom. I am finding the parish records can be in poor repair, so this has been a great place to check and see if someone's "bell has been rung" (forgive the pun), because these records are in very legible hand writing. It's a way of confirming a death, and also names of spouses you might not have previously known. The pew purchases often talk about buying seats for their children or spouses, and gives their names. Again, a great way to supplement information from parish records that may be non-existent.

I am also now going through the Wimborne court records in this section -- they go back to 1500's. Someone has done a handwritten transcript, so they are easy to see what the court case is about. It's quite amusing actually, because there's a lot of dirt being dished, who had "carnal knowledge" of who, and I don't think I have seen the word "whore" written so many times in a single place! There are thousands of mentions of people's names and gives a flavour of what daily live was like, who owned property, records of their crops, who were the saints and who the sinners. Brings a whole new element beyond knowing plain old dates of B,M and D.

If you have interests in Dorset, the subscription to Ancestry is well worth the money. I am in no way affiliated with Ancestry, other than a happy subscriber.

Good luck with your research,
Susan


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