Airedale & Wharfedale Family History Society
Finding New Routes to Trace Your Old Roots
By: Stanley Merridew
North Yorkshire Record Office holds Pateley Bridge Circuit records which cover the chapels from Brown Bank to West End. These include baptism records from 1825 to 1961. All the chapels are together in each volume but the place of residence is shown.
Read MoreBy: Stanley Merridew
Whilst at the Yorkshire Family History Fair a few years ago I was given a handwritten list of parties to marriage licences which were originally found within Otley parish registers. These entries were not included in the Yorkshire Parish Register Society publication of Otley early registers.
Read MoreThe Band of Hope was started
in Leeds.
Its purpose was to discourage, particularly the young, from
alcohol.
By: Stanley Merridew
Arthington
This linear village was part of the parish of Adel until 1865 when the village church was opened. It is a good example of how the Church of England’s slow response to a rising population allowed nonconformists to thrive in communities remote from the parish church. Arthington is three to four miles from Adel church, uphill virtually all the way. Not an easy journey for a family with toddlers and elderly relatives in tow.
Read MoreThe system of Civil Registration, introduced on 1st July 1837 is a fantastic research tool for family historians. Its introduction was controversial at the time. Previously all births, marriages and deaths were entered in church or chapel registers as baptisms, marriages and burials. The new regime reduced the power of the religious bodies and resulted in an immediate fall in the number of baptisms.
Read MoreThe absence of a date of death is a frequent feature of many family trees. To me the date of demise of a relative completes the story of an individual and shows you have attempted to trace their whole life. It can also throw up some information that you will not find elsewhere relating to their life and your family.
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