Jersey Archive holds records from the Church of England, Catholic, Methodist, Independent Church and the Ecclesiastical Court.
Church of England Records from 1540 – 1915 for baptisms and 1540 – 1940 for marriages and burials have now been digitised and are available at www.ancestry.com.
Images and descriptions of marriages from 1842 to 1940 have now been added to the catalogue. All of these can be accessed by searching on the name of the bride or groom. Volunteers are currently adding details of baptisms from 1842 to 1915.
The Channel Islands Family History Society have generously allowed their invaluable collection of typed transcriptions of the Church of England baptism, marriage and burial records to be digitised to enable subscribers to view them online. The records cover all 12 parishes in the Island.
Visit our online tutorial for help with accessing Parish Church records pre 1842.
Search the Channel Islands Family History Society transcriptions
Church of England
St Helier, St Clement, St Martin, St Saviour, St Mary, St Ouen, St Matthew, St Simon, St Andrew, St Marks, Grouville, St Brelade, St Lawrence, St John, St Peter, Trinity, Gouray, All Saints, St Luke and St James.
List of collections of Church of England Records
Roman Catholic
The Archive holds the baptism, marriage and burial records of the following Roman Catholic Churches; St Thomas’, St Mary and St Peters, St Matthew’s, Sacred Heart, St John and St Anthony Chapel (baptisms only) and St Anne’s (baptisms only). There are also indexes for the St Thomas’ records available to order.
A small number of St Thomas’ composite registers for baptisms, marriages and burials pre 1842 can be accessed online and these have been indexed by name of the person in the entry.
List of collections of Roman Catholic Records
Methodist
The Archive also holds baptism, marriage and burial registers for the majority of Methodist Chapels in the Island. The Methodist collection also contains lists of Sunday School attendees, membership lists and class books which can prove useful for the family historian. Early registers appear within the Circuit records and then later within individual chapels and span the years 1836 – 1989. The Archive hopes to digitise and make these available online in the future.
List of collections of Methodist Church Records
Independent
Records are also held for the following Independent Churches; Halkett Place Evangelical Church – Registers from 1809 – 1947, New Church Society – Registers from 1844 – 1987, United Reformed Church – Registers from 1827 – 1965, Jersey Baptist Church and the Presbyterian Church. The Archive hopes to digitise and make these available online in the future.
List of collections of Independent Church Records
Ecclesiastical Court
The earliest records of the Ecclesiastical Court date from 1557. The Jersey Archive holds the rolls of the Court from 1557 until 1899. The Court was used to try people who were accused of ‘moral crimes’ e.g. adultery. The Ecclesiastical Court was also responsible for probate in the Island until 1949 when this function was taken on by the Judicial Greffe. All probate documents that were created by the Ecclesiastical Court have been transferred to the Archive. These records have not been digitised.