Family history

Parish registers

The church has copies of its baptism, marriage and burial registers. The parish baptism and marriage registers start in 1558, and the burial records begin in 1563. They can be inspected at the Huntingdonshire Archives. Searches can also be requested from the church archivist, archivist@somershamparishes.org.

The fee published on the page is £28 for up to an hour and £28 for each subsequent hour. The page says the records are in a reasonable state, so an individual search should not take more than an hour, and that you will be told in advance if a search is likely to take longer. Alan Draper is named as parish archivist on the history and archives page.

There is an index of the gravestones in the churchyard. A copy can be inspected at the church. Searches can be made through the archivist. The index records graves, their location, burial dates and inscriptions. JPEG images of individual graves can be supplied.

A few of the graves

Ann Dring. The headstone reads: “Ann DRING widow of the above who was born January 7th 1786, departed this life December 9th 1891 in her 104th year.” The page says she was 103 years old at her death and had 7 children, 29 grandchildren, 60 great-grandchildren, and several great-great-grandchildren.

Susanna Seekings and Sarah Sammons died on consecutive days in November 1891 and were buried at the same time in the same grave. A third person, Elizabeth Saint, was buried in the same grave in 1917. The page asks whether she was the third sister.

The inscription reads: “In loving remembrance of Susanna SEEKINGS who died Nov. 23rd 1891 aged 80 years. Also of Sarah SAMMONS who died Nov. 24th 1891 aged 82 years. Also of Elizabeth SAINT born March 1st 1849 died February 20th 1917.”

Thomas Savage does not have a marked grave, although the burial register records his burial. At the age of 21, in 1824, he was hanged for arson. The fire in Somersham was on 26 May 1824. He was sentenced to death at the Huntingdon Assizes in August 1824 for setting fire to a barn. The page says he was the last person to be executed for incendiarism in the county of Huntingdonshire. His remains were buried in Somersham churchyard on 19 December, recorded in the burial register.