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Updates for Langham in Essex.
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I've been working on Langham's registers lately. I've transcribed the two earliest surviving registers, which cover 1639 to 1713 for burials and baptisms, and 1638 to 1753 for marriages. But they're not all online yet.

You'll find baptisms 1639-1691 on Essex and Suffolk Surnames, with baptisms and burials up to 1713 at FreeREG. Marriages are up to 1737 on FreeREG, with 1738-1753 going up during the week. 

 

Filling in the gaps

I'll be putting burials 1639-1691 on the website very soon - I've been a bit held back as the third register, which takes baptisms and burials up to 1768, also includes affidavits for burials in woollen from 1678-1689, so I've been checking the burials I transcribed from the first register against the affidavits. Fortunately, having burials recorded in two places means that where information is missing from one register, I've been able to add extra information from the other.

Some were missing people's first names in the earliest register - "The wife of..." or "Widow Smith", for instance, and I've been able to add them from the third register. And I've included the names of the people who made the oaths as well - they were almost always women, some appearing regularly. You might find your ancestor helped send the late inhabitants of Langham on their way in their woollen shrouds.

In order to stimulate the English wool trade, Charles II decreed that everyone had to be buried in woollen, unless they died of the plague (so needed a hasty burial!) or were destitute. The people who prepared the dead for burial had to swear that they had followed the law, and if someone was buried in linen or anything else that wasn't wool, they would have to pay a fine. It was interesting to note, watching the BBC series A Stitch in Time recently, that Charles II dressed in fine wool fabrics too, partly to avoid annoying everyone by flashing his cash in expensive fabrics, but also to make a point about English wool. That he extended this even to the dead is very interesting - and very handy when the affidavits register helps to fill in gaps!

Langham's third register also includes more notes on baptisms and births, burials and marriages, covering the period 1695-1714, so before I put the transcriptions from the second register online, which cover that period, I'll be checking them off against the third register in case any extra information comes to light. Someone tore the page that has 1711 baptisms in the second register and it means that seven baptisms have lost most of their information - I'm hopeful the gaps will be filled by the notes in the third register. Fingers crossed!

 

Snippets

There's some very interesting notes in Langham's registers so I'm writing a series of blog posts exploring them in more detail. Even if your family aren't from Langham, the notes bring to life everyday moments from ordinary people living in the past. So hopefully you'll find them interesting!

I posted the first of the series yesterday: Snippets of life in Langham, part 1.

 

Anyway, I best get back to checking through those transcriptions, so I hope you've had a good weekend, without too many random snow showers (at least, that's what I've had all day!), and if you live somewhere warm and have spent the day in the sunshine, please don't tell me or I'll be jealous.

Best wishes,

Helen Barrell
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