Kent History Centre Parish Registers - findmypast - Genealogists' Forum

NickiP · #1 22-05-18, 18:21

Came across this on Dick Eastman's blog.

https://blog.eogn.com/2018/05/22/fin...rs/#more-22783

Welcome news for anyone with Kent ancestors as this covers a large part of the county compared to all the other Archives.

kiterunner · #2 22-05-18, 18:46

That's brilliant news, Nicki, thanks. Some of these are on FamilySearch but not fully indexed and can only be viewed at FamilySearch Centres, so it will be great to have them indexed and available on FMP. I wonder if there is any chance they could do wills as well?

NickiP · #3 22-05-18, 18:51

I think most of the Wills are held at Canterbury Archives who, of course, already have their PRs on FMP. I would have thought that by now if that was going to happen they would already have been made available but who knows. I think they are all available on Familysearch at their FHCs anyway.

I'd also like to see the Medway Archives PRs, which obviously are free to view on their website, get fully indexed as some of the parishes are so large. However, I suspect because they had "public" funding to get them digitised in the early 2000s, that may be why they've not been made available even now additionally via one of the commercial sites for indexed copies. I know some have been indexed but not all. I can live in hope.

That said the others, as you say, is great news! I don't think Familysearch have copies of all the PRs held at Maidstone anyway but it will mean a bit more time to view others when visiting an FHC.

Lindsay · #4 22-05-18, 20:09

Excellent news!

marquette · #5 22-05-18, 20:42

This would be great.
I have trying to figure out if I can manage a visit to Maidstone when we visit the UK! Maybe I wont have to leave OH on his own for half a day after all.

Di

James18 · #6 26-05-18, 12:00

Hopefully Surrey follow suit!

kiterunner · #7 26-05-18, 12:32

The Surrey PR's are already on ancestry, James.

James18 · #8 26-05-18, 14:28

Yeah, but a lot of stuff at the history centre is not.

NickiP · #9 26-05-18, 21:11

More likely Surrey would work with Ancestry again rather than going to FMP, as Ancestry obviously still have exclusivity contract with them. FMP don't digitise anything, the Archives have to either do it themselves or arrange for it to be done. Ancestry hire staff to do it. I suspect that is one of the reasons certain Archives work with one rather than the other.