NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 31. 



and, by way of testing the practicability of tran- 

 scribing and printing the parochial registers of the 

 entire kingdom in a form convenient for reference, 

 I made an alphabetical transcript of my own, 

 which is now complete. The modus operandi which 

 I adopted was this : — 1. 1 first transcribed, on sepa- 

 rate slips of paper, each baptismal entry, with its 

 date, and a reference to the page of the register, 

 tying up the slips in the order in which the names 

 were entered in the register; noting, as I pro- 

 ceeded, on another paper, the number of males and 

 females in each year. 



2. The slips being thus arranged, they came in 

 their places handy for collation with the original. 

 I then collated each, year by year ; daring the 

 process depositing the slips one by one in piles 

 alphabetically, according to the initial letter of the 

 surnames. 



3. This done, I sorted each pile in an order as 

 strictly alphabetical as that used in dictionaries or 

 ordinary indices. 



4. I then transcribed them into a book, in their 

 order, collating each page as the work proceeded. 



5. I then took the marriages in hand, adopting 

 the same plan; entering each of these twice, viz. 

 both under the husband's and the wife's name. 



6. Next, the buiials, on tlie same plan. 



7. I then drew up statistical tables of the num- 

 ber of baptisms, marriages, and burials in each year, 

 males and females separately ; where the register 

 appeared badly kept making notes of the fact, and 

 adding such observations as occasionally seemed 

 necessary. 



8. I then drew up lists of vicars, transcripts of 

 miscellaneous records of events, and other casual 

 entries that appeared in the register.* 



I noted, as I went on, the time occupied in each 

 of these operations. It was as follows : — 



* To obviate the difficulties arising from capricious 

 spelling, I assumed tliat which I thought to bo the 

 correct one, and entered all of the name under that one, 

 placing, however, in parenthesis, the actual mode of 

 spelling adopted in the instance in question, and also 

 entering the name, as actually spelt, in its proper place, 

 with reference to the place where the searcher would 

 find it ; e. g. In my register, the name of " Caiser " ap- 

 pears under more than twenty varieties of form. ' enter 

 them all under " Cayser." In the man/in, opposite the 

 first of these entries, I write consecutively the different 

 modes of spelling the name — " Caisar," "Caiser," 

 " Casiar," " Kayser," &c. &c. Sec. In the table itself, 

 I write, 



Cayser, John. 



[Casiar] John. 



[Kaysar] John, &c. &c. &c. 

 Then, " Casiar," " Kaysar," &c., appear in their re- 

 spective places sic, " Casiar," v. " Cayser," " Kavsar," 

 V. " Cayser," &c., nearly on the plan adopted by Mr. 

 Duffus Mardy in his admirable indices to the Close 

 Hulls. 



1. The first transcripts on slips, with addition of 

 statistical tables — 

 Baptisms - - - . 2004 

 Marriages, 420 ; each twice 840 

 Burials - . - - 1244 



Total - - - 4088. ..55i hours. 



2. Collating and filing alphabetically 23" — 



3. Sorting in strict alphabetical order 13\ — • 



4. Transcribing into IdooIc - - 91;j — 



5. Copying statistical tables into book 5 — 

 Transcripts of miscellaneous entries, 



lists of vicars, &c. &c. - - - 7 — 



Total - - - 193^ hours. 



My registers begin in the year 1558, and the 

 present population of the parish is about 420 ; so 

 that you have here an account of tiie labour neces- 

 sary to complete an alphabetical transcript of the 

 register of a rural parish of that extent in popu- 

 lation. 



I send you the. result as a first step to a work 

 of great national importance, and of inestimable 

 value with relation to family descent, title to 

 property long in abeyance, &c. &c. As to statis- 

 tics, I doubt whether any data worthy of consi- 

 deration can be obtained from these sources, owing 

 to the constant irregularities which occur in keep- 

 ing the registers. 



No man, much less the minister of a parish, who 

 has abundant calls upon his time, can be expected 

 to sit down to the task of transcribing his registers 

 through many consecutive hours ; but there are 

 few who could not give occasionally one or two 

 hours to the work. In this way I e'liicted my 

 transcripts; the work of 195 hours being distri- 

 buted through nearly five months — no great 

 labour after all. 



Oil an average, twelve words, with the figures, 

 m.ay be calculated fin* each entry; which will give 

 for this parish about 500 folios. Each entry 

 having been transcribed twice, we may call it, at 

 a rough calculation, 1000 folios written out ready 

 for printing. 



If the authorities at the Begistrar-General's 

 office would give their attention to it, they must 

 have t/ie7'e abundant data on which to form calcu- 

 lations as to the probable cost of the undertaking. 

 And I cannot help thinking that, setting aside 

 printing as an after consideration, alphabetical 

 transcripts, at least, might be obtained of all the 

 parochial registers in the kingdom, and deposited 

 in that office, at no insurmountable expense; and 

 if the cost appear too heavy, the accomplishment 

 of the work might be distributed through a given 

 number of years ; say ten, or even twenty. 



Parliament might, perhaps, be induced to vote 

 an annual grant for so important a work till it 

 was accomplished; albeit, when we think of their 

 niggardly denial of any thing to the printing, or 



