parish register

American  

noun

Ecclesiastical.

1. the register of the christenings, marriages, and burials in a parish.

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parish register British  

noun

1. a book in which the births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths in a parish are recorded

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Etymology

Origin of parish register

First recorded in 1645–55

Example Sentences

Parishioners will read the names of the 101 African Americans, most of them held in bondage, whose baptisms were recorded in the original parish register.

From Washington Post • Feb. 10, 2013

Just then Alidoro reappears, no longer as a beggar and declares that, according to the parish register, the Baron has three daughters.

From The Guardian • Jun. 18, 2012

The parish register contains an entry under the date November 3rd, 1728: “James, ye son of James Cook, day-labourer, baptized.”

From A Month in Yorkshire by White, Walter

Still, who was likely to search through an old parish register, and, in doing so, who would stop to inquire into the identity of John Lyle and his wife Mary and their son Jasper?

From Jasper Lyle by Ward, Harriet

Massinger was buried there, March 18, 1638,—the parish register recording him as "a stranger."

From Shakespeare's England by Winter, William