Hitcham All Saints

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Transcribed by Helen Barrell. You can also search these transcriptions on FreeREG.

Notes

  • Latin: The earliest register (which goes up to 1706) is almost entirely written in Latin, and it continues in the next register. Entries are finally in English continually from 1715. Names are Latinised, and follow Latin grammar, e.g. Johannes filius Johannis Smyth = John son of John Smith (genitive, for possession), Johannes Smith duxit in uxorem Elizabetham Cooke = John Smith took Elizabeth Cooke as his wife. See my guide to dealing with Latin in parish registers.
  • Anglicised transcriptions: I have provided separate spreadsheets with the names converted back into English (but not modernised) so it’s less confusing, but please don’t rely solely on these; make sure you check the transcription of the original Latin (it can be impossible to know what the English name was in some cases, such as Jacobus/Jacobi, which could have been Jacob or James). I’ve provided Anglicised names in the notes of the early marriage spreadsheet.
  • Scrappy registers 1724-1738: nothing at all for 1723, and no baptisms at all for 1724, apart from Jan-March 1724/5. The registers running 1724-1728 and 1728-1738 are very scrappy, reusing paper account books from the late 1500s, and missing some years. They’re in poor condition, affecting the survival and legibility of some entries, and have been written by someone with poor handwriting and irregular, phonetic spelling. If – like me – you’re having trouble finding an entry for this period, the poor condition for registers at this period may well explain your troubles. I don’t know if the Bishop’s Transcripts are any better for this period. The rector’s neat handwriting only turns up when baptising his own children; apparently he was content to leave the rest of the registering to someone who could barely write and has omitted several years of records.
  • Baptisms begin 1575, marriages in 1600, and burials in 1607. It’s possible that early records have survived in the Bishop’s Transcripts, but they’re not at all easy to access. (as of October 2025 – maybe Ancestry will add them to their Suffolk parish registers one day?)
  • Baptisms: they run up to the mid-late 1640s, mostly in Latin. Then in 1653, there’s a note to say that a “parish register” (a registrar) has been appointed. He records – in English – births, rather than baptisms, but these include some births pre-dating 1653, the earliest being 1645 (this is why the first and second spreadsheets slightly overlap). In 1656, some baptisms, rather than births, creep in, with one in Latin. Nothing’s recorded for 1658 or 1659 (apart from a single baptism which had been entered at the foot of an earlier page, halfway through 1613 baptisms). Then in 1660, the register returns to baptisms written in Latin. Baptisms get patchy in the 1670s, with forenames missing here and there. Then the number each year drops, so that only 3 are recorded in 1676, 8 in 1677, 5 in 1678, 7 in 1679 and 6 in 1680. No baptisms recorded 1682-1684 (torn-out page?). Only four recorded for 1685 (Feb & March 1685/6). 6 in 1687, and only 4 in 1689. None 1723 or for most of 1724. None June to September 1733. None at all: 1735.
  • Burials: none 1642-1650, one only 1651, none 1652. Continues from 1653. Possibly gap 1661: they run up to August and stop, recommencing in March 1662. Only one, two, or three year from 1671 to 1677. None 1694-1699. The last page of the earliest register, ending with 1706 burials, is also the back cover, so most burials are very worn and faded and are very hard to decipher. None 1723.
  • Marriages: none 1642-1652. None 1676-1691. None 1716. None 1723.

Baptisms

Burials

Marriages

1600-1641, 1654-1754

1754-1812

  • To follow.