Description

Unless you have the discerning
mind of an Agatha Christie or
the detective skills of a Sherlock
Holmes, it is frequently difficult to find
biographical material to flesh out the
various names on your ancestral charts.
Parish burial records may sound like a
far-fetched source for biographical
details about your forbears, but do
not decide too quickly to ignore them,
especially when researching the earlier
periods in Island history.
Before you begin your quest for this
data, you need to discover certain facts.
First, establish when and where your
ancestor lived. Then, try to determine
what records were kept during his (or
her) lifetime in the general area where
he (or she) lived. Next, find out where
these records may be found today — if
still extant — and whether or not any
finding aids are available for them.