Staffordshire Parish Registers - findmypast

[BlueSavannah]

FMP are starting to roll out their Staffordshire PRs. Apparantly these are not complete and they've not been officially announced yet but some PRs are able to search already.....

Not sure if there is a better way of putting a link but here is how I am looking at the moment

http://search.findmypast.co.uk/histo...e&Region=World

[Mary from Italy]

Great, thanks very much.

[Kit]

Thanks. I have been waiting years for this.

[BlueSavannah]

Me too

Sadly I am waiting a little longer because the parishes I need are not on there (yet). Fingers crossed they are to come.

[Kit]

oh oh oh.

I didn't think anything of mine would be there but my great grandparents marriage is. I know the details but it is nice to see them online

[Margaret in Burton]

I've found a marriage at St Modwens in Burton today. I could have found it at the library where they have the PR's on fiche.
I do think in the long run though this will kill off local studies libraries. Ours has just been moved from quite a decent sized room at the library to a large broom cupboard.

[BlueSavannah]

I agree with your Marg. The Sheffield Archives has already reduced its opening times to only 2 and half days per week and when all the Sheffield Anglican PRs go live on FMP, then I think they will possibly close all together with just the Sheffield Central Library remaining open.

Its hard though because for someone like me who no longer lives near Sheffield and with a toddler and a baby, having the records come online is a god send but I also feel that putting local studies in a position they have to close is wrong.

I also don't live anywhere near Dudley where the records for the parishes in Staffordshire that I need are held and apparently the Dudley area records are still to come.

[Kit]

I'm not even in the country so I will never get to the archives, so this is a godsend.

But it is sad that archives will close because records are placed online for people like me.

[kiterunner]

Archives hold all kinds of records, not just parish registers, so I don't see how they could close because of PR's going online. It is true that many archives have reduced their opening hours recently, but this is to save money.

[BlueSavannah]

That is very true Kite. I am just basing mine on a conversation I had with someone last year at a family history event. It apparently is rumor that Sheffield wants to move all its other non-PR stuff elsewhere so that they can eventually close. Obviously I don't know if that is true or not and really hope it is not but it wouldn't surprise me at all. All to save money.