New web site tracks 16th Century relatives

Local parish records dating back to the 16^th century are to be published online as part of a Wales-Wide project, allowing residents of the Welshpool area to track ancestors back nearly 500 years.

Findmypast.co.uk, a UK family history website, is making available online for the very first time fully searchable indexes and images of the parish registers of Wales.

The registers contain information on 8,000,000 baptisms, marriages and burials from across Wales. Some of the records date back to the 16^th century, making it possible to find Welsh ancestors as far back as the 1500’s.

Catherine Richards, Archivist with Powys County Council and Chair of the Welsh County Archivists’ Group commented: “Records of baptisms, marriages and burials are a major resource for family historians and can reveal fascinating and surprising secrets back through the generations.

She added: “Making our records accessible to as wide an audience as possible is one of the main objectives of Archive Services across Wales.”

The records will be made available over the next two years at findmypast.co.uk with an index search available on FamilySearch.org. Powys residents can access this free-of-charge through the Archive service.

The project is taking place with the permission of the Church in Wales and Welsh Archive Services.