Nonconformist register

[tamborine]

What is this for & why would a person be registered here ?

[rojash]

http://en.wikipedia.o...onconformist_register

[Mosaic]

The first attempts to properly document the population happened in Elizabethan times - when everyone belonged to one religion. So the state's task was done through the parish registers of births, marriages and deaths.
When religious upheavals left us with a patchwork of sects the head-counting still had to be done - and it wasn't until the 1830's that government caught up with the idea that they should do it.
So your methodists, catholics , Inghamites, unitarian and so on all kept registers of their congregations.

[tamborine]

An I thought its was a register for rebels - lol

[DTCwordfan]

Yes and it disappoints me that the Methodists have cuddled up to that useless Church called the CoE and that braying Welsh goat; at least he is going.,

[dotty.]

it is very worthwhile checking the information on there, especially if your ancestors were rural tenant farmeing class or above as they could afford to opt out of the anglican church and it meant they didn't have to contribute to the parish tax that helped to support the poor, the main reason they did it, not daft were they farmers?