Westow's Parish Registers
This is very much a work in progress but we are publishing data as we obtain it in the hope that it can be of some benefit.
Much of the earlier entries have to be rechecked and may be updated. You will soon realise that the spelling is phonetic and seems to have depended on the speaker’s accent as well as the priest’s hearing and spelling. As a result the same surname may be spelt a number of ways. We may have inadvertently added to the confusion because the lists were compiled by one person reading and the other making the entry!!
The data is held in Excel spreadsheets with separate tabs for births, marriages and burials. You are welcome to download this data for personal use.
Notes
Where there are gaps in the entries this is either because the entries are missing or they are unreadable.
We have put the entries in calendar year order although the earlier registers were from Lady Day to Lady Day. We have also put them in date order although in some cases entries seem to have been put in retrospectively, even years later.
There are some strange Christian Names but in many cases these would be a family name, often the mother’s maiden name and so can be a useful clue in researching family history.
Comments for Baptisms:
Vicars put different information in the entries. The following are included in the Comments column where shown:
Birth Date
PB = Private Baptism These were usually performed in the home. There were a variety of reasons but the most common was that the child was not expected to survive. These may or may not have been put in the Parish Records. In some cases the child might be brought to Church later when the entry would note that it was received into the Church.
Where a baptism record also shows RIP the child will usually have been baptised privately because of illness and died shortly after. Note that a stillborn child cannot be baptised.
Occasionally the names of godparents are included.
Comments in Italics are those of the transcribers.
There are a lot of entries relating to Westow Croft which was a Maternity Home (we are trying to determine the dates for this). There is a spate of baptisms during WWII which we assume are mothers evacuated from Hull.
Comments for Marriage Banns
Banns are read in the Parish Church of both parties. They may also be read at the church they attend if different.
Banns are read on three consecutive Sundays (the list shows the first Sunday in each case).
In some cases the marriage date is also shown and this is included n the Notes