By John U. Powell, M.A. 



243 



for a few years is Coker ; and perhaps the entries for this family 

 till 1660 were added all together. Other names began to appear 

 in 1658, and perhaps also on a preceding page, but the dates are 

 illegible. There are no entries for the years 1671 to 1676, in- 

 clusive, and the list is probably incomplete from 1659 to 1662 and 

 from 1696 to 1702. Vol. I. ends in 1720, and Vol IT. begins in 

 1725 ; between these years there are no entries. Vol. II. ends in 

 1757 ; Vol. III. begins in 1758, but contains in the middle of the 

 book two sets of banns for 1756, and on the first page a marriage 

 for the same year. It ends in 1812. The Rev. Gr. Smith, incum- 

 bent 1798 — 1836, in a paper descriptive of the registers, drawn up 

 by himself in May 1813, remarks : — "Vol. II. appears deficient in 

 many places : a leaf appears to have been torn out after the year 



1735, but there is an account at the end of the book for the year 



1736. ' ' This is perhaps true ; at the same time, the average number 

 of births and burials recorded for 1735 is not smaller than for other 

 years. In 1693, and in many succeeding years, generally in April ? 

 the registers are seen and endorsed by various persons, presumably 

 magistrates. From 1680 to 1699, and even to 1735, there are 

 records of burials in woollen, and affidavits thereof. The Act 

 requiring these was passed in 1666. Other curious entries are " an 

 aught of David " (i.e., affidavit) ; " Sacheverill " as a Christian 

 name (1719) ; rough scribblings, such as " Young men beware, for 

 there is a day of doom " ; 



" George Selward is my name, 

 And with my pen I write the same. 

 And if my pen had been better ■ 

 I would amend every letter " ; 



"He that swims in sin shall sink in sorrow " ; "Moses Sheppard, 

 a child that was found in the field, baptised, July 1745." Baptisms 

 are recorded during the time of the Commonwealth, in 1658, 

 although from 1655 to 1660 the worship of the Church was carried 

 on only in the strictest secrecy and under the severest penalties. 



(b) Parish Accounts. The first volume contains the accounts of 

 the years 1740—1756, and consists merely of the accounts of money 

 paid to the poor, and of the names of successive overseers, the first 



