31 July 2014

Ancestry adds Dorset, England, Quarter Sessions Order Books, 1625-1905

The 115,173 records in this Dorset database document "Quarter Session judges’ decisions in matters that include settlement inquiries, highway rates, criminal trials, registers of settlement, orders of removal, bastardy examinations, apprenticeships, licensing, contracts, lists of justices, and other matters related to the business of running the county." It's a mixed bag. Some documents will just give a name and amount paid. Other's, such as removal documents, might give names and ages of children together with the parishes involved.
The database is taken from files at the Dorset History Centre in Dorchester and linked to images of the originals. In the early years you will have to wrestle with interpreting writing in Secretary hand.
Poole in Dorset was a major port of departure for early settlers in Canada.

1 comment:

Nathan Murphy said...

Poole had its own quarter sessions, because of its separate county status. I can't tell their records are part of the Ancestry database, but they have been abstracted on the Poole History Online website: http://www.poolehistory.org.uk/taxonomy/term/4368