Parish Records

Parish Records are important sources of genealogical information. As a consequence the early parish records of the Isle of Man have been completely transcribed. They are accessible via the IGI (baptisms and marriages) or the Lawsons BMD index (burials) both of which appear in the external links section. The registers have also been microfilmed. Digitised images will shortly become available via Manx National Heritage's iMuseum. The following is a brief overview.

The earliest surviving parish records of the Isle of Man date from the start of the seventeenth century, but those of many parishes begin later. The records from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are of registers of baptisms (with a typical entry comprising the name of the child, the names of the parents and the date of the baptism), marriages (comprising the names of the bride and groom and the date of the marriage) and burials (comprising the name of the deceased and the date of their burial). The name of the mother was not typically included in the baptismal entry until the eighteenth century, and sometimes not even then. Occasionally other information is recorded such as an identifying place-name attached to an individual or an indication that a deceased was an infant.

William Harrison (Manx Society Vol 29 from 1869) gave the earliest dates of the baptismal registers for the 17 original parishes. (The parishes themselves were all in existence long before these dates.) These dates are broadly consistent with the the records which survive today. He did note however that the original Rushen register commenced in 1670 but "appears to be lost". The following dates for the commencement of registers were taken from published sources and have not been checked by me against the original records.

• Kirk Patrick: baptisms from 1714, marriages from 1714, burials from 1714
• Kirk German: baptisms from 1670, marriages from 1673, burials from 1655
• Kirk Michael: baptisms from 1611, marriages from 1656, burials from 1610
• Kirk Ballaugh: baptisms from 1607, marriages from from 1695, burials from 1598
• Kirk Jurby: baptisms from 1607, marriages from 1606, burials from 1606
• Kirk Bride: baptisms from 1693, marriages from 1693, burials from 1693
• Kirk Andreas: baptisms from 1666, marriages from 1655, burials from 1645
• Kirk Lezayre: baptisms from 1696, marriages from 1696, burials from 1696
• Kirk Maughold: baptisms from 1647, marriages from 1648, burials from 1642
• Kirk Lonan: baptisms from 1718, marriages from 1718, burials from 1718
• Kirk Onchan: baptisms from 1627, marriages from 1698, burials from 1647
• Kirk Braddan: baptisms from 1626, marriages from 1683, burials from 1625
• Kirk Marown: baptisms from 1622, marriages from 1799, burials from 1711
• Kirk Santon: baptisms from 1690, marriages from 1690, burials from 1656
• Kirk Malew: baptisms from 1650, marriages from 1650, burials from 1649
• Kirk Arbory: baptisms from 1652, marriages from 1729, burials from 1729
• Kirk Rushen: baptisms from 1712, marriages from 1708, burials from 1712

It should be noted that some gaps appear in the registers. (There are for example no baptisms recorded in Kirk Michael between 1620 and 1625 inclusive.) Also not all events were recorded and some baptisms appear twice.