England Tips for Researching Nonconformist Ancestors (National Institute)

Researching English Non-Anglicans
Welsh religious denominations have a very different history and a far greater percentage (up to 80%) of Nonconformists than in England. The influence of Roman Catholicism and Presbyterianism, as well as these countries’ separate record systems, render Scotland and Ireland separate subjects for denominational study.

The history of many groups is quite complex with many divisions and amalgamations. The intent of the chart below is to show the approximate earliest use of terms that will be encountered in the records.

Chart: Denomination Dates in England

Protestant Dissenter Ancestry
Some of the tell-tale indicators of dissension from the Anglican Church include the following, although none are foolproof.


 * Present family religious affiliation.


 * Relatives known to be Nonconformist.


 * Dietary restrictions such as teetotalism, abstention from tea and coffee.


 * Certain recipes are passed down in particular faiths.


 * A tradition of chapel-going rather than attendance at church.


 * Absence of christening in parish church as infants.


 * More than one baptism, perhaps separated by many years, a sign of ‘chapel hopping’ (McLaughlin). This can be very confusing if birth details are not given each time, as it was also frequent to name a subsequent child with the same name as a deceased one. The researcher needs proof of birth of each child, or evidence of death of the first one.


 * The children of Quakers and Baptists who did not believe in infant baptism, may be recorded as born in the parish register, so that an acceptable legal record of age and parentage could later be found.


 * For some years from 1690 clergy were required to keep records of all persons born in the parish, and dissenters’ children may have been listed separately each year or without names (just date and sex) because, as these ministers saw it, the child did not receive a name until Anglican baptism.


 * Baptism in later life (after the age of 7) can indicate that their parents were not Anglican. Their age or birth date may or may not be given in the register.


 * Baptism may have been pressured on the elderly or sick who needed assistance from the parish.


 * Should a committed dissenting parent die the surviving spouse, if less committed to nonconformist ideals, may have quickly brought the children for Anglican baptism. Such a scenario can provide a clue as to which side of the family was Nonconformist.


 * Family group baptisms, especially those including adults, and particularly in the 1860s during the Anglican recruitment drive, can indicate a previous period of nonconformity.


 * A plethora of the stranger Biblical first names like Ebenezer and Keturah, Hezekiah and Bathsheba, or the Puritan types such as Faint-not, Hate-Evil, Thankful, Obedience, and Lamentation. Selina, after the Countess of Huntingdon is a dead give-away for a Methodist girl.


 * Anglican baptism shortly before marriage in this church indicates no previous baptism in the Anglican church, hence possibly Nonconformist (or apathetic) parents. However, one labelled hypothetical baptism would only indicate no provable previous baptism. Some Church of England ministers were sticky on these points, others less so.


 * Clandestine marriages at such venues as the Fleet, Holy Trinity Minories or St. James Duke Place in London, Gretna Green or other Scottish border site, or Channel Islands (Benton).


 * Elusive marriages of military personnel, or naval and merchant mariners.


 * Post-1837 marriage in Nonconformist chapel would be more likely to indicate bride’s family preference as couples usually married in bride’s parish or area.


 * Burials in cemeteries and burial grounds rather than churchyards.


 * Notes in parish registers regarding those buried other than in the churchyard—the vicar was upset because he didn’t receive his fee!


 * Burial in a parish churchyard recorded as a person ‘going by the name of...’ indicates that the vicar didn’t approve of the name, most likely because they had never had an Anglican baptism in which it was bestowed with the church’s blessing.


 * From 1660 to at least 1688 and often long afterwards they may be found in the Churchwardens Presentments for not taking communion, not attending church, not baptizing children, living together as man and wife when not married in (Anglican) church, or teaching school without a licence from a Bishop. Not attending church was also a civil matter so their names could be in the Quarter Sessions for this misdemeanour as well.


 * If his ‘sins’ were great enough, or he refused to attend the Anglican church court, or even if the local vicar was of a vindictive nature, a Non-Anglican could also be excommunicated. Doctrinally this wouldn’t bother him, of course, but there were other privileges that hung on this. He could be treated as if he didn’t exist, with ‘good’ Anglicans not employing him or patronizing his business, refusing to pay debts to him or respect his rights and boundaries, or even allow burial in the churchyard.


 * Upwardly mobile families in trade, or property holders. Their exclusion from government and professional positions meant that they concentrated on business and trade. Hence they benefitted greatly from the Industrial Revolution and the shift of power from the country to the towns.


 * Families were keen on education, reading and new ideas, and lobbied for social reforms.


 * Men are not often in the Army or Navy.


 * Tend to be very committed to their religion, but may have attended various different chapels.


 * Family possession of bibles, Nonconformist books and tracts, Sunday School Class tickets etc. with references to a Nonconformist chapel, or dedications from a minister therefrom, perhaps mentioned in wills.


 * Most are extremely respectable citizens.


 * Attendance at Nonconformist schools, Dissenting Academies or the universities of Durham and London, particularly before 1871.


 * In early times (17th-18th centuries) many were picked on and physically abused. Nonconformism could be at the root of any affray noted in court or newspaper and not attributed to drinking, domestic problems or traders’ disputes.


 * Biographies of Nonconformists abound.


 * Obituaries tend to be full and spiritual.


 * Occurrence of obituaries in Nonconformist publications.


 * Mentions of Nonconformist groups in newspaper articles and obituaries about the family.


 * Use of specific phraseology or motifs on tombstones, in wills, and other places.


 * Records of disputes in church courts pre-1858.


 * Parish chest records and accounts showing non-payment of tithes etc.


 * Burial, or request for burial in Nonconformist burial ground or nondenominational cemetery, not parish churchyard.


 * For those married during the period 1754-1837, wives referred to in wills asmy reputed wife or [maiden name] who now lives with me and the children noted by name asmy son/daughter by [maiden name]. This was because non-Anglican marriage did not confer legality and thus legitimacy of subsequent children during this period. [It may also denote no marriage at all, of-course.]


 * Bequests in wills to Nonconformist chapels, charities or ministers.


 * Prior to 1858, probate of wills in an archbishop’s court employing civil lawyers to avoid paying fees to the local archdeacon or bishop.


 * Having an executor who affirms rather than swears on oath to administer.

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course English: Non-Anglican Church Records offered by The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

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