I am having difficulty locating categories for several parishes in VA.

Question

I have an ancestor who interacted in one way or another with several parishes in VA, included St Peter's Parish, St Paul's Parish, and St Martin's Parish.  I have searched every way I can think of and yet I haven't found any parish listed.  I find that hard to believe considering how important parish life was in the 1600s and the 1700s.  Therefore, these parishes must be listed as categories somewhere.  I just can't find them.

Is there any Genealogist out there who can tell me where the parish categories can be found.  I will show the ID of my ancestor below.  Just be aware that his profile is still unfinished.  It is definitely a work in progress.

Answer 1

Hi Judy,

There are many, many religious congregations of all faiths that are not yet categorized, however, I was able to located a category page for St. Peter's Parish in New Kent County by looking in the listing of cemeteries for that county. 

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:St._Peter%27s_Parish%2C_Virginia

Members of the Categorization Project are always working on creating new categories for items like municipalities, townships, cemeteries, schools and religious institutions, but it's a tedious and time-consuming process that has to be done accurately to be of any value to our users.  If you would be interested in helping out with the Categorization Project, or just want to know how to add a few categories on your own (you don't have to be a member of the project to create categories), feel free to let me or one of the project leaders know and we'll be happy to help.  Hope that gets you headed in the right direction! 

Comments

Well I have to admit that I didn't look at anything to do with cemeteries.  My ancestor was baptised in St Peter's Parish -- nothing to do with cemeteries.  Then he participated with his father and other large landowners of St Paul's Parish in a land processioning, combining their land into one precinct -- again nothing to do with cemeteries.  In St Martin's Parish my ancestor was shown as a land owner in the Parish Tax Rolls and there is some detail as to his land transactions but no activities relating to deaths/burials or anything else to do with  cemeteries.

I believe whoever came up with the idea to organize the categories of the various Parishes under the headings of various cemeteries should rethink that whole structure.  I would come nearer looking for a cemetery under a parish rather than the other way around.

Any idea who I could discuss this with?

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Judy,

It's not a matter of categories being set up improperly, all it means is that no one has created a category for the parish yet.  As you know, cemeteries are frequently associated with parishes and other religious congregations, but because they're such a great place to find vital statistics for our ancestors, they are frequently the first component of these organizations to get categorized. There are other places where most or all of the religious institutions are well-categorized, but that's because one of our members, or a group of them, had an interest in them and took the time to create those categories.  I see that one of our Super Stars (members that go above and beyond the norm in their contributions to WikiTree) is the profile manager for a few of the people listed in St. Peter's, so I will point them to this thread as they may have more information for you.  Have a great day!

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Tom, I certainly did not want to give the impression that I was criticizing another WikiTreer who had taken the initiative to set up the categories for some of the early Parishes.  I guess I am always hesitant about setting up new categories myself for fear of creating dupliicates.    But I'm glad to do it.  In this case I felt like referring to one or more of these common parishes would probably have caused the categories to be created a long time ago.  But apparently not.  Since I have some time tonight I'll be glad to get them entered and then I should be able to finish my 4th great grandfather's profile.  Actually I'm ready to move on to the 3d.  My 3d great grandfather was a hero of the Revolutionary War and I'm looking forward to telling his story.  The family is rather proud of him.

Answer 2

Hey Judy,

I have many family members from St. Peters parish.  The category for this parish can be found here:

St. Peters Parish, Virginia

The category is located within the category for New Kent County, Virginia.  I do not find St Paul's Parish or St Martin's Parish, in Hanover County,

The parish's were the local government.  St. Paul's and St. Martin's were created because St. Peters was so big it was hard to manage.

I would be happy to discuss this with you at any time.

Mags

Answer 3

Hi Judy,

A reasonably comprehensive list of Parishes for Virginia can be found on Family Search at the following URL.

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Virginia_Church_Records

All the best

Billy

Comments

Nice work, Billy.  That will help any categorization of parishes that the wonderful volunteers might take on at some point.