Leicestershire like other counties has a unique composition. Your research into Leicestershire ancestors will depend on where in Leics they were born, lived or died. The City of Leicester is obviously the central point for modern day records but not necessarily for older ones. The main towns are Hinckley, Market Bosworth, Ashby de la Zouch, Oadby and Wigston,Melton Mowbray,Lutterworth,Loughborough, Coalville, Market Harborough and don't forget that Leicestershire was joined at the hip with our neighbouring county of Rutland (England's smallest county).If you require any help in where your records might be held apart from at Leicestershire Records Office in Wigston please get in touch! Iain..
I am jumping on this thread firstly to say a thank you to Iain for his offer, and secondly to say a big thank you to FMP for uploading Leicestershire parish records onto their website. I spent many happy hours yesterday trying to trace my 5 times great grandfather James DAWES whom I knew had lived in Lutterworth at some time (although he ended up as a Grazier in Monks Kirby, Warwickshire according to his PCC Will) as he is mentioned as a Grazier of Lutterworth in his son James jnr's PCC Will who died in 1757 in London. To cut a long story short, I have found the baptisms of 3 of James snr's children in Lutterworth, including that of my 4xgreat grandmother Mary, and thanks to a Marriage licence record for one of my Mary's sister in law's relatives, found the baptisms of the children of Mary's brother Benjamin in Swinford. Just shows how important tracing twigs can be in the grand scheme of things - the marriage licence quoted a Benjamin DAWES of Swinford as one of the bondsmen! Still haven't found James snr's burial, nor his marriage nor birth, but hey one step at a time! Janet
And thank you from me too, as I spent many hours searching Rutland for my family who were backwards and forwards like a fiddlers elbow between Oakham and Stamford in Lincolnshire! Found most of what I wanted, although some escaped me!
It might be worth mentioning that records for some former Derbyshire parishes such as Measham are also held at LRO. Also, a plug for Parish Chest, where you will find a huge number of Leicestershire record sets.
