Pallot’s Baptism Index once contained more than 12 million records, but most were destroyed in World War II. The 201,976 surviving christening and baptism records on this CD are a valuable resource for those seeking ancestors in the Greater London area. The records on this CD may be searched in as much detail as you wish, by any word. The dates range from 1780 to 1837. These parish christening and baptismal registrations (with some birth dates recorded) cover at least 22 parishes in London and Middlesex, around 27 other parishes, with many miscellaneous entries including several records from counties in Wales. The name of the child and parentage, the parish of baptism and the date are usually given.

Click and view the original Pallot card images free of charge on the Ancestry.com website for any record on the CD (internet access required).

Minimum System Requirements: 486/33 processor (Pentium recommended), Windows 95 or better, 16MB RAM, 21MB hard disk space, 2x speed CD-ROM drive, 800x600 monitor resolution, 16-bit colour or higher.

Pallot's Index had its beginnings in the early 1800s, with the creation of an English firm of heir searchers. Subsequently it became the property of Messrs Pallot and Co. who gave the index its name. Today, Pallot's Index belongs to the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies at Canterbury, Kent. They made it available for consultation at their library or allowed searches for a fee. Recently, Ancestry.com has joined with the Institute to produce the index on CD-ROM and offer it through the Ancestry.com databases online.

At one time, Pallot's Index was much larger. Unfortunately, it suffered severe damage during World War II. What survives is roughly 1.5 million references to marriages and 200,000 references to births. It is the marriages, which are most useful, for London and environs in particular; there are entries for 101 of the 103 ancient parishes. Of the county marriages, there are listings for thirty-eight counties, and for nine of these more than one hundred parishes are represented in the index: Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Leicestershire, Middlesex/London, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Somerset, and Yorkshire is close behind with ninety- three. Probably less than half of all parishes have been indexed for the full fifty-seven years, most are 1790 to 1812.

Before you begin, read the booklet that comes with the CD and then turn to the Ancestry View 'Help' feature for other questions. A basic search is simple - mainly a matter of entering a surname in the field at the top of the screen and selecting 'Go'. At the lower right is displayed the total number of hits on view. Work your way through them by clicking on 'Next' in the toolbar at the top and watch the numbers advance. You can put in name variants one by one or make use of wild card symbols.

In the simple marriage search, pay attention to the display of results because listings for the targeted name do not necessarily come first. The place of those listings is wherever they fit in alphabetical order of all results that match the search criteria; e.g., a request for marriage entries of people named Worthington will first show surnames of spouses beginning with letters A through V. In addition, my experiments with several names show there is not necessarily a complete duplication of entries - checking only those within the list of individuals with the selected surname may not find every event.

I recommend using the advanced search option because of several added features. There is the advantage of adding more facts (parents or spouse's name, place, year) and of viewing the flow chart of results. The best way to explain this is with an example. Put in Smith alone and there are over 51,000 names; Baker nets about 8400. Enter 'Smith and Baker' in the surname field and you see how many thousands of each surname are in the database and that they appear together 125 times. Add a first name or first names and the numbers drop even more. The beauty of this system is that you watch a diagrammatic representation of any combination of fields. In addition, you can look for only first names - there is no requirement to input a surname - a real asset when the first name is unusual.

Another feature is the ability to browse the entries of one parish; enter a place name in the parish field and leave the others blank. For some large urban parishes there are tens of thousands, but for others, such as Swyre in Dorset (not in the IGI) there are just 112 marriages. The computer does not group records, you must use the 'Next' button to advance through the hits. To narrow the search, you can combine the parish name with a specific year but not a range of years. This inability to search by year range is a shortcoming; however, as an alternative, you can tag and print entries of interest.

Every record display looks the same, the name of child or spouse No.1, name of parents or spouse No.2, date and parish name. At the top, if you are hooked up to the Internet, it is possible to select 'Check here to view this image online.'

As you search, watch what happens in the source window on the left. All you see at first is a list of letters of the alphabet with numbers, plus signs and boxes beside them. The numbers indicate how the hits are distributed through the alphabet. Select a plus sign and you see the surnames involved; click on a name to go to that entry. Check a box and it is possible to print a list of all the entries for that surname.

Pallot's Baptism Index 1780-1837 CD2489 is £34.95 inclusive