Preston St Wilfrid, Lancashire Genealogy

Guide to Preston St Wilfrid, Lancashire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish register transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
St Wilfrid Preston (see Preston St John) was the original parish church, from about the year 1094 A.D. However, the church came into disrepair and was demolished for another sometime in the 16th Century. In 1581, the name was changed to St John the Baptist, and then again it was changed to St John the Evangelist in 1770. There was also a Roman Catholic parish built by 1793 by this same name which lay within the civil parish boundaries of Preston. It was one of at least four or more Catholic churches built in Preston over a 75 year period.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church Records

 * 1538 - 1910 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1603 - 1910 at FamilySearch — index and images

Non Conformist Records

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images
 * 1647-1996 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Lancashire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain