Reading old church records

Christopher3,965

Hi everyone!

I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how to decipher old UK church records.

Some of the images are only partially readable or complete gibberish to me…

Do people use any specific tools to adjust the images to extract the text?

MaureenE123

There are articles you can read about reading old handwriting, which are linked from the FIBIS Fibiwiki page https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Reading_old_handwriting

Paul W

The page at https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=old+handwriting+translator&sca_esv=70115b77c1e466d4&sca_upv=1&source=hp&ei=J6S8ZsKpHf20hbIPrvmP0QM&iflsig=AL9hbdgAAAAAZryyN9PdTLiee5x4k9PiSiYU8yO6M9KV&oq=old+handwriting&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6Ig9vbGQgaGFuZHdyaXRpbmcqAggCMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABEjiW1AAWMkucAB4AJABAJgBcaABkQmqAQQxMi4zuAEByAEA-AEBmAIPoAKCCsICCxAAGIAEGLEDGIMBwgIIEAAYgAQYsQPCAhEQLhiABBixAxjRAxiDARjHAcICDhAAGIAEGLEDGIMBGIoFwgIREC4YgAQYsQMYgwEY1AIYigXCAg4QLhiABBixAxiDARiKBcICFBAuGIAEGLEDGIMBGMcBGI4FGK8BwgIOEC4YgAQYsQMYgwEY1ALCAg4QLhiABBjHARiOBRivAcICCxAuGIAEGLEDGIMBwgIREC4YgAQYsQMYgwEYxwEYrwHCAggQLhiABBixA8ICERAuGIAEGMcBGJgFGJkFGK8BwgIOEC4YgAQYxwEYmAUYrwGYAwCSBwQxMS40oAfNkQE&sclient=gws-wiz should provide some advice.

Personally, I have used photocopied examples of the individual letters of "old" alphabets from a booklet, but there are a number online. See https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=old+english+alphabet+letters+secretary&sca_esv=70115b77c1e466d4&sca_upv=1&udm=2&biw=1536&bih=711&ei=Q6-8ZubkNf6thbIP1fXuiAk&ved=0ahUKEwimktbKyfSHAxX-VkEAHdW6G5EQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=old+english+alphabet+letters+secretary&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiJm9sZCBlbmdsaXNoIGFscGhhYmV0IGxldHRlcnMgc2VjcmV0YXJ5SJpTUNsXWM1PcAN4AJABAJgBWqABlAWqAQIxMbgBA8gBAPgBAZgCBKACiQHCAgoQABiABBhDGIoFwgIFEAAYgATCAgYQABgHGB7CAgYQABgIGB7CAgQQABgewgIGEAAYBRgemAMAiAYBkgcBNKAHswo&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

An added problem - especially when trying to read these without AI aids - can be if the documents are written in Latin! Fortunately, my experience - with both English wills and registers - has been in finding them, for the most part, to be written in English.

Ashlee C.

You could also use some of the tutorials and helps found on this Wiki page: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Online_Helps_for_Reading_Old_English_Handwriting