Alan E. Mann, A.G.
Accredited Genealogist
The "chest" maintained by the
parish was in ancient times "a hollow trunk, fastened with three keys, the
latter to be kept severally by the bishop, the priest, and a religious
layman" (Tate, p. 36). By the mid-1500's, the parishioners in every parish
were directed by law to "provide a strong chest with a hole in the upper
part thereof, and having three keys, for holding the alms for the poor"
(Tate, p. 37). The chest was also a place in which the parish registers and
other parish documents were kept. A single chest could have been used for both
purposes (alms and documents) or two or more chests were kept by the parish.
Chests were plain or ornate, according to
the desire of the person who purchased or donated it. It was sometimes kept in
the home of the minister, but more often kept in the parish church. A chest
from Wimbourne, Dorset -- made from the trunk of a tree -- is 6 feet long on
the outside, but the cavity is only 22 inches by 9 inches by 6 inches. One of
the longest is 10 feet long, found at Curdworth in Warwick county. Most chests
are of box type. About 1680 they were from walnut, the soft wood lending itself
to elaborate carving. Mahogany became more fashionable starting in the 1750's.
Another kind of chest is a cubicle iron box, especially after 1812 when the law
required safe custody of the registers. Though the chest was a requirement,
what was kept therein and the condition of the box itself varied from parish to
parish.
Two main types of documents were kept in the
chest: ecclesiastical and civil. They are listed below.
A. Records mainly Ecclesiastical
1. Parish Registers
Registers
containing information about christening/baptism, marriage and burial
ordinances performed by the minister.
2. Churchwarden's accounts
Generally there
were two churchwardens who were responsible for the upkeep of the church and
churchyard, parish cottages, charities, and the religious & moral welfare
of the people in the parish.
3. Charity Accounts and other charity
records
These records give
lists of benefactors, dates, and amounts; disbursement of funds.
4. Glebe terriers and tithe records
Records of the
land held by the minister for the benefit of the parish. Often describes the
property and the names of those who hold adjoining land.
B. Records mainly Civil
1. Vestry minutes
Deal with all
aspects of parish life and communal affairs. May be termed "social
welfare" of the parish. Members of the vestry council were chosen and
elected by the inhabitants of the parish.
2. Petty constable accounts
The parish peace
keeper. Responsible for the upkeep of the stocks and lock-up, apprehending
criminals, inspection of almshouses, maintaining a list of men eligible to
serve in the Militia, apprenticing children (until Elizabethan time) and caring
for the poor, sick, aged, wanderers, etc.
3. Poor law administration
Includes
settlement and removal orders, overseer's accounts, vagrancy, the care of
bastards, apprentices (voluntary and not), workhouses and other matters
relating to those who were poor. For more information on poor law, read Poor Law Records.
4. Open-Field Agriculture; Enclosure
Business involving
arable, meadow and pasture lands in the parish.
For more information, refer to the following
books:
Tate, W.E. The
Parish Chest. FHL 942 K2t
McLaughlin, Eve. Annals
of the Poor. FHL 942 H6mev
McLaughlin, Eve. Illegitimacy.
FHL 942 H6mea
Herber, Mark.
Ancestral Trails, pp. 285-313 FHL Ref 942 D27h
The following explain terms and records
found in the parish chest
The
Local Historian's Encyclopedia,
The
Dictionary of Genealogy, and
The
Family Historian's Enquire Within.