GENEALOGY RESEARCH

A brief guide to help you search for Methodist family records

The research into Family Trees is a very valuable and important part of doing history. Unfortunately the Wesley Historical Society cannot undertake genealogical searches because we do not hold the records or registers of births, marriages or deaths. The local or county Record Office may be able to help you. Some local Churches have current registers.

Obituaries of Ministers can often be found in the Minutes of Conference of the Wesleyan/Methodist denominations in which they served. Also if you know the date of death a notice of the death and/or an obituary may appear in the denominational Newspaper. The information on lay people is very difficult to find. The local or county Record Offices might have local church personnel information in minute books etc. Some printed donation lists survive from the 19th century which can be useful, see forthcoming article in the Proceedings by John Lenton.

The following research centres have extensive runs of Minutes of Conference and some of the Methodist/Wesleyan denominational newspapers, which you may consult. The Methodist Archives and Research Centre, John Rylands University Library of Manchester, http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/

Wesley Historical Society Library, http://www.brookes.ac.uk/wco

A number of major City Reference Libraries have copies of the Minutes of Conference and/or the Methodist Recorder.

The Following addresses may be able to guide you in your researches.

Mr John H Lenton. E-mail jandclenton@blueyonder.co.uk

The Public Record Office at Kew has a number of publications that can help. http://www.pro.gov.uk

A2A Access to Archives http://www.a2a.pro.gov.uk/

The Family Records Centre http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/

There are number of genealogical societies, which can be found on the Web.