Shropshire

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Church Records on GENUKI

Shropshire Marriage Indexes

Boyd's Marriage Index

Covers the period 1538 to 1812, or in a few cases about 1840, but only for those parishes and those periods which are included in the printed registers of Shropshire published by the Shropshire Parish Register Society in the early 1900s. The index is available at the Shropshire Record Office, Shrewsbury or the Society of Genealogists, (SoG) London. Since August 2002 it is also available through the English Origins website.

Pallot Index

Commenced in 1819, the index includes about half of the Shropshire parishes for the period 1790-1812 (and just a few to 1837 or even later) but most of these are covered to a greater extent by Boyd's above although there is some additional coverage. The original slips are owned by The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies, but it is now available on CD from various sources, and for online searches at Ancestry.com.

NB: it appears to contain only surnames beginning with letter 'W' for outside Central London.

Lewis Index

This index was compiled by the late Maurice G. Lewis and covers the period 1750 to 1812 for all those parishes which are not already covered by Boyd's, and includes full details of the marriage as outlined in the Parish Registers. In addition the index incorporates over 5,000 'strays' i.e. Salopian's who married outside Shropshire - these are for any date up to 1837. Widows, where identified as such in the P.Rs., and girls who married away from their own parish are also indexed, but girls who married in their own parish are not indexed separately. Since Mr Lewis died in September 1991, the index has been operated by his family. Inquiries should be sent to:-

The Lewis Marriage Index
The Berringtons
Woodseaves
Market Drayton
Shropshire
TF9 2AU

Gwynne Index

Covers the period 1813 to 1837 for all parishes in existence at that time. It is compiled from Original Registers, or Bishops Transcripts where the original is no longer available. The index was commenced in March 1978 by Mr Richard Gwynne and following his death soon afterwards was continued by his brother, Mr Robert Gwynne. The index records approximately 36,500 marriages solemnised in some 222 parishes. In addition it includes marriages from five border parishes, but does not include other strays. Where identified, widows and widowers are shown and the Index includes females, as well as males, in alphabetical order. Details from:-

Mr R.W. Gwynne
26 Derwent Close
Denton
Manchester
M34 2FW

North Wales Marriage Index

This is mainly for North Wales counties but also includes the following Shropshire Parishes in the north west of the county:- Chirbury, Clive, Cockshutt, Criftins, Dudleston, Ellesmere, Halston, Hordley, Kinnerley, Knockin, Llanyblodwel, Llanymynech, Melverley, Oswestry, St. Martin's, Selattyn, Welshampton, Wem, Weston, Whittington. Details from:-

Ann Hayes
Pen y Bryn
Mount Street
Ruthin
Denbighshire
LL15 1BG

SAE required - or make initial contact by e-mail:

BMSGH Marriage and Banns Index

Marriage and Banns index from Birmingham and Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry has records of marriages fom many parishes in the County of Shropshire. This is on the FFHS pay-per-view database FamilyHistoryOnline.

Strays Index

If a marriage cannot be located in any of the above it might be worth consulting the Shropshire Family History Society Strays Index. This may be searched online via the Shropshire FHS website

The Lewis and Gwynne Indexes are both complete for the periods shown above so together with the Boyd Index this should mean that any marriage which took place in Shropshire between 1750 and the start of civil registration in 1837 will be included in one of the above indexes.

Mr Lewis had done some work on the period 1700 to 1750 before his death (commencing in the Market Drayton area and then extending in a radius outwards) but that had only been started shortly before his death and is far from complete. As of July 1990 seventeen parishes were complete for this period. These are mainly, but not entirely, in the north east of Shropshire. There are just a few entries pre-1700, but not many.

Any request for details from a marriage index should be sent direct to the appropriate index holder.

Do not forget that if your ancestors lived near the county boundary you may benefit from consulting a marriage index from an adjoining county.

All Montgomeryshire Marriages from the start of registers to 1837 (about 43,000) have been indexed. The Index was compiled by:-

Mr T. E. Gwynne
5 Newtonmere Drive
Wellington
Telford
TF1 3HG

The following information is included: Surname & Forename of Groom and Bride, their place of abode if not the place of marriage, the date and place of the marriage. Each Parish is allocated a reference number which is used to reference the Parish. There is a Printed copy at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth and it has been filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah.

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