Updated 6 Dec 2000 |
WIRKSWORTH Parish Records 1600-1900 |
Return to Front Page |
The appearance of the first article caused an extra 8,000 hits on this website, 100 entries in the Guest Book and around 100 extra e-mails requiring an answer, a lesson in publishing in the right place. Every single message was very pleasant in tone, another lesson on the kind of people interested in Genealogy.
MISSING LINKS: RootsWeb's Genealogy Journal
Vol. 4, No. 51, 15 December 1999, Circulation: 379,025+
(c) 1996-99 Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley
Editor-at-Fault: Julia M. Case
Co-Editor-to-Blame: Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG
RootsWeb HelpDesk: (http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/)
Advertising: (rrti@rootsweb.com)
Public Relations/Press: (stwalsh@rootsweb.com)
* * * * *
IN THIS ISSUE:
o A Derbyshire Parish
o Too Busy?
o Web Links
o The Way Things Were: Marching through Georgia (1905)
o Successful Links: Persistence Pays Off
o Successful Links: Grandma's Bank Passbook
o Somebody's Links
o Letters to the Editors
o Humor: Snail Race
o Reprint Policy, Back Issues, How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe
* * * * *
A DERBYSHIRE PARISH (Back to the MENU)
by John Palmer (john.palmer@wirksworth.org.uk)
My mother had a rare name, DOXEY, and came from a place in the
middle of Derbyshire, England called Wirksworth. In 1995, using
the IGI, I traced her line back to 1595, still in Wirksworth.
I went to Lichfield Cathedral, where the Bishop in charge of
Wirksworth used to live, and asked for the Bishops Transcripts.
Here they are sir, one-foot-wide and four-feet-long, in a roll
of 350-year-old parchment. Don't you have photocopies of these?
No sir, you'll have to use the originals to work from. But
that's terrible, they'll fall to bits. Shrug. Then I spoke the
words that changed my life. I'll do a deal, you send me
photocopies and I'll transcribe them to computer, index them and
send you the printouts. A month later, ding-dong, the postman -
a parcel for you sir. My heart sank; there's a year's work here.
I started typing, on my old computer. It was hard work, but it
got interesting. Six months later I finished the job and posted
printouts to Lichfield. But I was hooked. I'd gotten to know
names and places from old Wirksworth -- they were like my family.
How about doing the Parish Registers, and get everyone in
Wirksworth 1600-1900 on computer? I contacted the IGI HQ in
England and asked will you lend me microfilm of the Registers to
use at home, here's what I'm trying to do. Sure thing, but we'd
like you to send us a progress report every six months, and a
copy of your final results, for free.
I bought a bigger computer and a fiche reader and started typing
again. Three years of very hard work later I'd finished 70,000
Register entries. A friend had a Web site, so I got myself an
ISP and bought a paperback about HTML. Soon I had all the Parish
Register entries on my own Web site and was getting a flood of
e-mails from around the world, inquiries, and fan-mail. Now I
was really hooked on Wirksworth.
Soon I realized I wasn't studying one name, but all names from
one place, together with its local history -- much more
satisfying. I added everything else I could find about
Wirksworth. A group let me scan and OCR all their Memorial
Inscriptions. I transcribed a lot of Churchwarden's Accounts
from 1650 -- absolutely fascinating. Then I added the census.
Another friend sent me local histories from 1830, another sent
old photos including an aerial photo of the town in 1840 (no,
I'm not going to tell you how that was done, you'll have to
browse my Web site to find out). Now I'm transcribing a
handwritten book of 700 local pedigrees that used to be in the
Duke of Devonshire's Library at Chatsworth House. It's
tremendous fun.
Want to see the results of five years hard work? Browse the
Wirksworth Web site at (http://www.wirksworth.org.uk). Better
still, why not start a "One-Place" Web site as your Millennium
Project? Put your favorite place on the map, and leave the next
generation something really useful.
* * * * *
======================SNIP================================
MISSING LINKS: RootsWeb's Genealogy Journal
Vol. 5, No. 1, 5 January 2000, Circulation: 384,415+
(c) 1996-99 Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley
Editor-at-Fault: Julia M. Case
Co-Editor-to-Blame: Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG
RootsWeb HelpDesk:
Public Relations/Press:
IN THIS ISSUE:
o Journey from South Africa to Germany
o Web Links
o Our Tax Man in 1700 (Churchwardens' Accounts)
o Somebody's Links
o Letters to the Editors (Orphan Update; British Coinage)
o Humor
o Reprint Policy, Back Issues, How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe
* * * * *
OUR TAX MAN IN 1700 (Back to the MENU)
by John Palmer (john.palmer@wirksworth.org.uk)
The Mormons lent me microfilm of some Derbyshire Parish
Registers to transcribe at home. At the end of the 100-foot roll
were the Churchwardens Accounts 1658-1727. I browsed these for
an hour, to see what they were about. They were so interesting
I spent two months transcribing 10,000 lines and putting them on
my Web site.
Around 1700 the churchwarden was the nearest thing to a tax man.
There were usually five wardens to a parish, elected annually,
who were men of substance and respect. Each year they collected
a levy from the town and surrounding villages, and distributed
it again as church maintenance, benefits and charity. They had
to keep careful written accounts of everything. These were the
Churchwardens Accounts.
In 1700 the Pound was worth 100 times today's Pound, so an old
Pound was about $160, and a penny about 70 cents. Annual levies
varied, but the average for Wirksworth Parish was 100 Pounds, or
$16,000 today. This was distributed among a population of 5,000
or 800 heads of families, a few of whom were rich but many were
grindingly poor. This was the Churchwardens responsibility.
The churchwardens had to keep the church bells and the clock in
good repair, and pay for oyl and grease for the bells, ale for
the bell ringers, lime nayles bricks spades hair and sand for
mending the church fabric, beesoms for sweeping, tallow for
lighting, Pigs of lead and solder for repairing windows and
roofs, wine (in huge quantities) and bread for church festivals,
and horses for moving anything heavy or transporting the wardens
on church business.
Churchwardens also were responsible for the curious and gruesome
job of paying anyone who brought a hedgehog (called an urchin)
or a raven to the church 4 pence ($3) or 1 shilling ($10) for a
foxes tail. This early form of pest control had been allowed by
Parliament around 1550, but must have been a great nuisance to
the church. Some years more than 400 urchins had to be disposed
of, as well as all the ravens and tails.
In 1702 new bells were needed. 337 pounds were collected
($55,000), the old bells were weighed and transported to London
via road, rivers and the sea (there were no canals or railroads),
melted down in the foundry, new bell metal added, a larger peal
cast and tuned, then transported back to Wirksworth and hung
with great effort. The churchwardens recorded each step in
detail along with the cost. Much ale was drunk on completion!
In 1712 a full scale argument arose between a gentleman and the
people of Wirksworth about a right of way across some common
land. Both sides stated their position in detail, and the poor
churchwardens had to record these carefully. Briefs were
regularly read in church asking for collections to be made as
charity to people in other parishes affected by fire, tempest,
flood, and even pirates from Turkey. National events (such as
victory in battle, coronations, or the birth of an heir to the
throne) were announced by ringing the church bells. The six
ringers demanded ale for their exertions, usually costing five
shillings ($40) in the days before alcohol was taxed.
Churchwardens Accounts are the most valuable of parochial
records for the wealth of information on such a diverse range
of topics. Complete details from a Derbyshire parish 300 years
ago can be browsed on the Wirksworth website at
(http://www.wirksworth.org.uk) Section 13: Churchwardens Accounts
* * * * *
======================SNIP================================