This page holds the introduction and the 1500s records. Click on the following links to go directly to
1600s / 1700s /
1800s / 1900s /
Baptism Index /
Marriage Groom Index /
Marriage Bride Index /
Burial Index
Bledlow, Buckinghamshire, England
VITAL RECORDS
Baptisms, Burials, Marriages from transcriptions available on microfilm through Family History Centers of The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Table of Contents:
Firstly, after background, introduction, apologia, you will find
1. The main body of EXTRACTS - preserving as nearly as possible the spellings of names as they appear in the
referenced material. These are ROUGHLY chronological, but be aware: the years 1813 onwards were missing from
first set of films, and, coming from a different film, proceed after the first set terminate about 1839... I did
this to avoid confusing the film sources. If you do not understand the calendar changes that resulted in dating
Old Style/New Style, e.g., 7 Jan 1676/77, look it up somewhere else. All I am telling you is that the NEW YEAR
used to begin in late March. Conversion to new calendar was SLOW in England - we did not like to take instruction
from the Pope.
2. Then comes four indices, or indexes as we say here in the southern US states, one index each for:
Baptisms
Burials
Marriage Index to Brides
Marriage Index to Grooms
The indexes were made with database software (MS Access) - I cannot explain why I do things the way I do -
but I took more time and care with the baptisms index, fitting the various spellings of each surnames into groups
under a singular spelling - you will see what I mean and be glad for it. It just wasn't as important to me for
the burials and marriages. Another feature of the INDEXES is un-Latinizing names found in the EXTRACTS -
turning Gulielmus to William, Jacobus to James, Galfridus to Jeffrey, etc.
November 2005 Dexter D. EUSTIS
Aberdeen, North Carolina, USA
With many thanks for assistance to a good friend: May Lanchbury
Joondalup, Western Australia
A little background information for those who may be curious: I have been engaged in family history research
since high school - don't tell anyone else but I started high school in Strong, Maine, USA, in 1957 - well... aged
about... would you believe 4.
(Cousin) Warner EUSTIS produced a marvelous, three-volume set (really two hardbound books and a pamphlet-sized
supplement) entitled "EUSTIS Families in the United States." This work includes all that he could identify as
descendants in the male line (Eustises) of William son of Joseph EUSTIS. This William was born in Bledlow,
Buckinghamshire, England and came to Boston, Massachusetts, USA, in the "Great Puritan Migration." Anyway -
these volumes are available thru the (LDS Church) Family History Library Catalog, and you will find me there
listed with a birth date of 22 July 1943. Humph... one of us, Warner or I, produce fictitious data.
An active "Eustace Families Association" includes a worldwide membership and has intermittent musters: 1979
at Pyrton, 1981 at Bledlow, 1983 at Watlington, 1985 at Lambeth, and 1999 at Watlington. A tentative muster
is on the planning board for May or June 2006. Association Links are as follows: North America, Ronald Eustice,
e-mail: eusti002@tc.umn.edu or ron@mnbeef.org; Great Britain/Ireland, David Eustace, e-mail: dje@dial.pipex.com;
Australia/New Zealand, Jim Eustice, e-mail: jimeus@mail2australia.com. Membership fee is small, about US$15, and
family newsletter is priceless.
More families than just us Eustaces populated Bledlow AND most of those other families supplied spouses, until
we now find ourselves cousins of various degrees and various numbers of times... many of us becoming our own
cousin...
Okay, enough of that... A web search on "Bledlow" yields a number of articles. I found the GENUKI article very
informative. The old church, Holy Trinity, dates back to 12th and 14th centuries - terrific photo at :
(as of July 2005 - can't guarantee it will still be there, but here is the "whatever you call this thingy.")
www.countyviews.com/bucks/chpages/bledlow1.html
From the GENUKI article, referenced [Buckinghamshire, by E. S. Roscoe] : "Bledlow is the most western of the
villages which stand on the northern spur of the Chilterns, and one of the most attractive. It is charmingly
placed just above the low-lying meadows which stretch across the Thame Valley to Haddenham. A large, straggling
village shaded by elms; behind it rises Wain Hill, some of it all woodland, the rest bare down."
The Icknield Way runs through - an historic old "road" - look it up...used by Romans, yes, but also by prehistorics.
A spring-fed pool, called the Lyde, is said to be eating away at the rock on which the old church is built.
Thus the old proverb:
"They who live and do abide
Shall see Bledlow Church fall into the Lyde."
Don't hold your breath, the old church is still there after these many hundred years.
Introduction: this is an attempt at deciphering the records of baptisms, burials, and marriages of Bledlow, even
though I lack qualifications for reading the old scripts and spellings. I have incorporated into this work material
from a number of microfilms available thru the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints (LDS Church), made available thru accessing the Library Catalog at www.familysearch.org on the internet and
then ordering the films thru your local LDS Family History Center (FHC), also located thru the same internet address.
Many pages from early years were worn, smeared, faded, soiled and otherwise difficult to read... even before they were
filmed. Item 1 on Film 0,416,723 is a typed copy of a transcription made by W. H. Challen of Bishop's Transcripts
found at the Guildhall Library, London. I used it as a guide to help decipher the early entries on Film 1,999,060
which is another set of Bishop's Transcripts, filmed at Bledlow, but with additional years. At this time (summer
of 2005), there appears to have been no filming of original Bledlow church register. Film 1,696,697 also purports
to be a transcription of Bledlow records - it has some differences and a few additions - making it likely that
it comes from original Bledlow Church Register. It has been incorporated with notations to show what it adds.
The church at Bledlow Ridge (St. Pauls's) was filmed separately on two films and is also included here. Film
1,042,374 - item 16 has baptisms commencing in July of 1868 and ending in November of 1881. Item 17 has
burials commencing about the same time (date column is not legible for first few) and ends October 1883. Item
18 has another, different, copy of baptisms commencing in 1868 (duplicating but not exactly the same as item 16)
and ending in March 1881. Differences are notated as they occurred. Film 1,967,011 adds baptisms at St. Paul's
Church, Bledlow Ridge, commencing with two more for 1881, and ending in July 1903.
