Denbighshire, Wales Genealogy

WalesDenbighshire

Guide to  ancestry, family history and genealogy parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Historic Denbighshire
Denbighshire (Welsh: Sir Ddinbych) was one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales. It was a maritime county, bounded to the north by the Irish Sea, to the east by Flintshire, Cheshire (England) and Shropshire (England), to the south by Montgomeryshire and Merionethshire, and to the west by Caernarfonshire.

The county was created following the Act of Union of 1535, between Wales and England, and was formed from the cantrefi (hundreds) of Rhos; Rhufoniog; Dyffryn Clwyd; Iâl; Nanheudwy; Cynllaith and the Maelor Gymraeg which were formerly in the Welsh kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys Fadog.

The administrative county of Denbighshire, with an elected county council, was created in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888. The county was governed by an elected county council, who took over the functions of the Quarter Sessions courts. The county town was Ruthin and other main towns were Wrexham and Denbigh.

Motto: Duw A Digon (English: With God, enough).

Chapman Code: DEN

1974-1996 Clwyd


Under the Local Government Act 1972, the county and administrative county of Denbighshire were abolished, for both local government and ceremonial purposes, on April 1, 1974. Most of Denbighshire becoming part of the newly formed county of Clwyd covering the whole of north-east Wales. However, the urban district of Llanrwst and five rural parishes, became part of the newly formed county of Gwynedd which covered the whole of north-west Wales.

Modern Denbighshire


Following further local government reorganisation, the county of Clwyd was abolished on April 1, 1996 and the present-day county of Denbighshire was created. This covers a substantially different area from the historic county of Denbighshire however. The eastern part of the ancient county of Denbighshire, together with the Maelor exclave of the ancient county of Flintshire, became the newly formed County Borough of Wrexham.

Topics

 * Denbighshire Parish Registers available on-line or in print.
 * Denbighshire Burial Records available in print.
 * Denbighshire Nonconformist Records.
 * Denbighshire Archives. Details of archives covering the historic county.
 * Denbighshire Register Offices. Details of offices holding birth, marriage and death record from the historic county.
 * Clwyd Family History Society Resource Centre in Cefn Mawr, Wrexham.
 * The Collieries in Denbighshire. Information on the collieries in the Denbighshire coalfield.
 * The Gresford Disaster. The disaster which occurred in 1934 at Gresford colliery.
 * Denbighshire Poor Law Unions
 * Genealogy from Periodicals
 * Census from Periodicals
 * Military, British Army, Naval from Periodicals
 * Occupations from Periodicals

Research tools

 * The North Wales BMD. A searchable index of births marriages and deaths within the county of Denbighshire from 1837 to around 1950.
 * Nonconformist Records. Use a spreadsheet list of registers and alternate records.
 * Wrexham Cemetery burial records. On-line search for burials.
 * Wrexham Open Church Network Graveyard Search. Currently available for Marchwiel (St Marcella's Church); Holt (St Chad's Church) and Ruabon (St Mary's Church)

Parishes
See a list of the parishes in Denbighshire with links to their pages.

Websites
Cemeteries
 * Denbighshire Resources and Help pages RootsChat Denbighshire Resources and Help pages. (Free).
 * NorthWalesBMD indexes 1837-1950
 * Clwyd Family History Society (Web site)
 * Clwyd Family History Society (Facebook page)


 * Wrexham Cemeteries

Churches


 * Shropshire's Non-conformist chapels (includes some border chapels in Denbighshire)
 * Llangollen Churches &amp; Chapels

Civil Registration


 * NorthWalesBMD indexes 1837-1950
 * Wrexham Marriage Indexes 1837-1997

Genealogy


 * Clwyd Family History Society (Web site)
 * Clwyd Family History Society (Facebook page)
 * Rootsweb Denbighshire board
 * BBC Wales north-east genealogy

Local History


 * Broughton District History Group
 * Brymbo Heritage Group
 * Chirk History Society
 * Llai Local History Society
 * Wrexham Local History

Genealogy

 * Thomas, Roland. A Family Circle on the Border. The author shows his family on a circular chart for 6 generations. Surnames are Thomas, Rolant, Evans, Price, Howel, Owen, Tudor, Roberts, Williams, Edwards, Sides, Rattenbury, Parry, Jones and Hughes. Article covers years 1725-1958, to be found in Hel Achau, vol.2. winter,1980, pages 13-14. Family History Library Ref. 942.93 D25h


 * Lloyd, Philip E. . Great Grandfather Little Book. The family history of William Lloyd, covering years 1794-1869, in the parish of Colwyn, Denbigh County. Article in Periodical called Hel Achau, no. 7, Aug, 1982, pages 3-7.Family History Library Ref. 942.93 D25h


 * Chadwick, Peter. Early 18th Century Inhabitants of Holt. A list of inhabitants of Holt, 1705, but appears to be head of household only. Article in periodical called Hel Achau, no. 9, 1983, pages 7-9. Family History Library Ref. 972.93 D25.


 * Davies, Alex. From a Welsh Bible. From a Welsh Bible, two family trees have been constructed; one for Thomas Hughes 1739-1803 and his wife Mary Percy 1752-1829; and one for Edward Roberts of Cilnant and his wife Mary Jones of Tynrhyd. Article covers years 1739-1889, in Hel Achau, #24, Spring 1988, page 16. Family History Library Ref. 943.93 D25h
 * Counting the People of Clwyd. 24. Llanynys (Part 3)  Genealogy of Hugh and Margaret Hughes who lived at Penstryd and their eight children. Gives details of each child, who they married and their children, and their types of employment.  Article in periodical called Hel Achau, no. 103, Dec. 2009, pages 18-19,  Family History Library Ref. 942.93 D25h
 * Edwards, Annette. The Cleric, The Captain and a Tale of Two Sisters.  Article is about Thomas Ellis - the Cleric,who married Hannah Rogers in 1889, Thomas Andrew, a Captain, who married first Ann Jones in 1863, and second Mary Andrews in 1881, and sisters, Mary and Hannah Rogers, and the Genealogy of them all. Article covers years 1834-1951, Denbigh, Coedpoeth.  Article found in Hel Achau, Dec. 2009, no. 103, pages 26-29, Family History Library Ref. 942.93 D25h
 * Humphreys, Margaret. From Ruthin to the Australian Goldfields.  Robert Humphreys married Mary Ann Jones in 1851 at Ruthin.  They emigrated to Australia where they raised their family under most difficult circumstances.  Illustrated with facsimiles of a birth certificate of their first child William and death certificates for Robert and Mary Ann.  Article covers time period 1851-1898, and is to be found in magazine Hel Achau, vol. 103, Dec 2009, pages 34-37, Family History Library Ref. 942.93 D25h