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QUESTIONS RELATED TO RECORDS |
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What Records does the Society hold? |
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Over the years the Society has collected a massive amount of data, to which new information is being added almost daily. Probably of the greatest importance, are the complete records held of all RAYMENT entries in the GRO indexes at The Family Records Centre consisting of births, marriages, deaths, adoptions, military records (including baptisms from 1761) and overseas (including Consular) records. |
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Other important records of RAYMENTS held include complete sets of Probate Calendar Book extracts, an index to PCC Wills and Administrations, photocopies and transcriptions of all known English and Welsh Wills and Administrations, IGI extracts, numerous census returns, parish register extracts, monumental inscriptions, burial records, newspaper cuttings, correspondence, electoral registers, world-wide telephone directory listings, Commonwealth War Graves Commission records, United States Social Security Death Index, many photographs, and a large number of birth, marriage and death certificates. |
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Are members able to obtain copies of the Society’s records? |
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Yes, in several ways. Many records having now been photocopied, complete sets of these photocopies are now available for loan or for outright purchase, at the member’s own choice. Members having access to a fax machine can obtain copies of small numbers of documents, free of charge, by using our fax-back service. Photocopies of individual documents can be supplied by post, for a nominal fee, upon application to the Secretary. The Society has recently begun computerising its records and many are now available on the Society’s web-sites. |
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How often are the Society’s records updated? |
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This very much depends on the type of record concerned. For example, the GRO birth, marriage and death indexes are updated annually, as are the Wills and Administrations Calendar book extracts. Other records such as newspaper files, census returns, Electoral registers, MI’s and parish register extracts are updated almost daily as far as computer records are concerned but, as far as printed records are concerned, may well only be re-printed when a significant number of amendments or additions have been made. |
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Does the Society have any records concerning names similar to RAYMENT? |
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Yes, a moderate amount of information is already on file regarding variants such as RAIMENT, RAYMEN, RAYMANT and RAYMONT together with RAYMOND, and it is intended to increase this as soon as resources become available. |
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Can any of the Rayment Society’s records be seen in the library at the Society of Genealogists? |
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Not at the moment, but this is currently under review. |
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Does the Society have access to any unpublished records, or to any other records not available to the public? |
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Sorry, no comment, for legal reasons! |
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Are the Society’s research records copyright? |
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Yes, but with a few minor exceptions, members are more than welcome to make copies of all of the records for which the Society owns the copyright, provided that the copies are made entirely for the member’s own private research and not for financial gain. |
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Please note that the Society holds some records that are the copyright of other organisations, and in these cases, it is the responsibility of the member to determine the legality of making copies. |
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What is the Society’s estimate of the number of living RAYMENTS worldwide? |
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The latest records show there to be in excess of 5000 worldwide, of whom some 3,400 live here in the UK! |
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Is there any reason why you haven’t mentioned Scottish and Irish records? |
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We have visited Scotland a number of times, and have managed to extract the RAYMENT entries from most of the records available, including the I.G.I. and telephone directories, but have so far found only an extremely small number of RAYMENT entries. A visit to Eire was made during 1989, but this proved to be completely fruitless, since no records of any RAYMENTS were found. |
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I’ve been told that there was once a RAYMENT family bible in our family, but I’ve been unable to find out whether it still exists. Can the Society help in any way? |
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Yes, we have access to an index of such bibles, which we will gladly search for any of our members. |
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I have a number of old baptismal, birth, marriage and death certificates, together with photographs and letters, all of which refer to my RAYMENT ancestors and family. Would the Society be interested in seeing any of them? |
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"Interested" is an understatement! Please, please, contact the Secretary as soon as possible! |
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Does the Society hold a Wills beneficiary index of those RAYMENTS who are mentioned in other wills? |
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No, because such an index, although undoubtedly very useful to us, would be reliant almost entirely on contributions from other societies and individuals, and so far we have received no relevant data with which to construct such an index. |
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Are any of the Society's records available on microfiche? |
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No but, as far as I am aware, this is the first time that this particular question has ever been asked. If there proves to be a sufficient number of members interested in purchasing records on microfiche, then we will certainly look into the feasibility and costs that would be involved. |