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

See Examples For:

parish register

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

A vestry was this year elected, churchwardens appointed, and a parish register ordered to be kept in each of the parishes in the island.

From Antigua and the Antiguans, Volume I (of 2) A full account of the colony and its inhabitants from the time of the Caribs to the present day by Anonymous

"Madame Darcy assures me that the letters which she holds, and on which she bases her case against her husband, are in the same handwriting as the name of Lady Isabelle, in the parish register."

From Parlous Times A Novel of Modern Diplomacy by David Dwight Wells

I tell you that the parish register is not the book of life.

From Practical Religion Being Plain Papers on the Daily Duties, Experience, Dangers, and Privileges of Professing Christians by John Charles Ryle