England, Yorkshire Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

Why Should I Look at This Collection?
Parish registers have been kept at the local level across England since the mid-1500s. Due to this long and relatively stable tradition, these records are central to English genealogical research as they are often one of the only sources for finding families and individuals in England before the start of civil registration in 1837.

What is in This Collection?
This collection consists of parish registers from the North Riding of Yorkshire for the years 1537-1900. It contains an index to and images of baptismal, marriage, and burial records. FamilySearch filmed the records at the North Yorkshire Record Office and BrightSolid created the index.

Image Visibility
Whenever possible, FamilySearch makes images of digitized records available for all users. However, the rights to view images on this website are ultimately granted by the record custodians. Due to their restrictions, the images in this collection are not available for general viewing, but may be accessed at a local family history center, at the Family History Library, or online by members of the supporting organization(s). For additional information about image restrictions, please see the Restrictions for Viewing Images in FamilySearch Historical Record Collections page.

Collection Content
For additional details about these records and help using them see England Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * Name of the person
 * Approximate date of the event

I Found the Person I Was Looking for, What Now?

 * Make sure to fully transcribe and cite the index entry for future reference
 * Look at an image of the original record, if possible
 * Use the information which has been discovered to find more. For instance, use the age listed in the record to estimate a year of birth, if that is yet undetermined.
 * If in the appropriate period, use the information which has been discovered to find the individual in civil records. Particularly useful for research in nineteenth-century England are the England Census and the England Civil Registration records.
 * Continue to search the index to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives. Remember that family members often appear on an individual's vital records, such as in the role of witnesses to a marriage.

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * When looking for a person with a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which individual is correct. Use other information, such as place of birth, age, occupation, or names of parents, to determine which candidate is the correct person. If listed, a personal title may be a clue to property ownership or occupation, either of which might be noted in other records.
 * Vary the search terms. For example, expand the date range or search by either the given name or surname to return broader list of search results.
 * Check for variants of given names and surnames. An individual might appear under a different name in a record for a variety of reasons:
 * An individual might have been listed under a middle name, nickname, or abbreviation of their given name.
 * Spelling was not standardized for much of the period of this collection, so names were often spelled as they were pronounced. Pay attention to how the name should have been pronounced and try spelling variations that could have that pronunciation.
 * Some women reverted to their maiden names after the death of their husbands.
 * Search the records of nearby parishes. While a person normally never lived more than 20 miles from their place of birth, moves within this distance were common. For this collection, nearby parishes could fall in the bordering counties of Durham and Northumberland to the north, Cumberland to the northwest, Westmorland and Lancashire to the west, or Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire to the south.
 * The individual might not have records in the Church of England at all, but rather might have belonged to a nonconformist denomination. See the England Nonconformist Church Records page for more information.

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in Yorkshire.
 * Yorkshire Guided Research
 * England Record Finder
 * England Research Tips and Strategies

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.

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