Updated 30 Mar 2008

WIRKSWORTH Parish Records 1600-1900

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Dedications

Without the influence of these people on the author, this website could not have existed. Therefore this Wirksworth website is dedicated to them.

Ena DOXEY, author's mother
Ena DOXEY
My mother who was born with a rare Derbyshire name and all her life believed her ancestors came from Matlock, not knowing about the Middleton connection. She was fascinated by the genealogy of her family but for 55 years her enthusiasm fell on deaf ears, until eventually the author stirred himself to find what all the fuss was about, and caught the bug. She provided the first essential:
Enthusiasm.
Frank DOUGILL, author's uncle
Frank DOUGILL
My Uncle, a successful business man without family who left money to the author, allowing him to retire early with time to devote to research. He provided the second essential:
Time.
Rosemary DOUGHTY, author's wife
Rosemary DOUGHTY
My wife, who does almost all of the mundane housework and gardening, and is also tolerant of the author's eccentricities. She provides the third essential:
"A Domestic slave".
The people of Wirksworth around 1900
The ordinary people of Wirksworth Parish
The author began by researching his own ancestors, but soon discovered the infinitely richer story of the whole community of people living within this large parish and their myriad interrelationships. They provided the fourth essential:
An endless Story to be told.
Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the website
Tim Berners-Lee
For two years 1976-78 Tim worked as a programmer in a neighbouring department of Plessey Co. Ltd in Poole, Dorset, England where the author was also a programmer. Later he moved to CERN in Geneva and invented the World Wide Web. On 6 Aug 1991 the very first website went online, only 4 years before the Wirksworth website was conceived. Tim's genius had provided the Web, the hyperlink and instant editing - all essential to the way this website works. Tim provided the fifth essential:
A way to tell the Story to the World.
John PALMER, author of this website
John Palmer
Retired and cycling across the USA in 1994, the author got the idea of transcribing the Wirksworth Parish registers and putting the information on a new-fangled idea he'd heard of, a website. Transcribing began in June 1995, the website was launched on 12 Jul 1998 with 88,000 records and has grown continuously since then. I provided the sixth essential:
The hard work needed.
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