British India Office records - findmypast

[Kit]

Kate do you have any idea how to search by parents?

[kiterunner]

If you mean on the births and baptisms search, then as I said before, you can put parents' names in the keywords field, but it is somewhat hit and miss as it will not search for variants of the names that way. You can do the same on the marriages search to search for father's name.

Originally Posted by Kit

proof after many years. My 3g grandmother was only referred to as "a heathen woman". Not idea how to trace her now.

I'm sure there will be a way do not give up

[Shona]

Originally Posted by Kit

proof after many years. My 3g grandmother was only referred to as "a heathen woman". Not idea how to trace her now.

Was that in a marriage record or on baptisms of her children?

[Kit]

Originally Posted by kiterunner

If you mean on the births and baptisms search, then as I said before, you can put parents' names in the keywords field, but it is somewhat hit and miss as it will not search for variants of the names that way. You can do the same on the marriages search to search for father's name.

Thanks, I'll try that.

Originally Posted by maggie_4_7

I'm sure there will be a way do not give up

I wont. It's taken me a few years to prove the mother was Indian. The sister's transcription said Heathen Woman but not my 2g grandmother. I'm more sad that was how she was referred to than the inability to research further.

Originally Posted by Shona

Was that in a marriage record or on baptisms of her children?

It was in the baptism of her children.

Kit, as the children would have been baptised in a Christian church, calling someone a heathen then, is the same as calling someone a pagan. It just means that she was not baptised as a Christian, it would not have been meant to be a slur on her character. With most baptism records now, if the person is a different religion to the church where the child is being baptised, it is usually noted. If one of the parents is not baptised, it is usually noted as mother or father not baptised. In genealogy we use baptism records as evidence of birth, but that is not the purpose that they are kept for, it is for religious use.

[Kit]

Thanks Julie, that does make me feel better. However few 'native' women were named. I've seen them referred to as Christian Natives, to distinguish from the 'heathens' but I guess it could be the whole woman are not important thing, especially when not English.

[Kit]

I just had a brain wave and think I know who is in a mystery photo I have. I can't prove it though as the person was born in 1917 and the transcription on FMP doesn't name the parents. Does anyone thing that in years to come the image and full transcription will appear on FMP?

[kiterunner]

A few people have asked on the FMP blog whether there are more records and images to be added, but there hasn't been an answer yet. I have seen a few of those transcriptions less than 100 years old without parents' names and my guess is that when they become more than 100 years old, the parents' names may become available. Just a guess though.

I am still wondering whether "native of Madras" on my ancestor's marriage record from 1838 means that she was ethnically Indian (or part so), does anyone know, please?

[Kit]

I don't know Kate, all mine are in Bengal, so far. Do you have any others that say something similar?

I have one woman who I have been told was Indian but she had her full name on the register, nothing else to identify her. I haven't tried to go backwards yet though to prove it. I'm going over what I already have to verify it is all true now that we have the images.