Search Carmarthenshire Burials

Transcript

Each record comprises a transcript and black and white image of the original register. The amount of information listed varies, but the records usually include a combination of the following information about your ancestor:

• First name(s)
• Last name
• Age
• Birth year
• Death year
• Death date
• Burial year
• Burial date
• Place
• County
• Country

Image

Many of the records contain images, which may include further information, such as:

• Maiden name
• Residence
• Death place (e.g. hospital, asylum)
• Cause of death (e.g. smallpox)
• If burial or cremation
• Father’s first name(s)
• Mother’s first name(s)
• Husband’s first name(s)
• Officiating minister

Note that some of the earlier registers are in Latin.

Carmarthenshire

Carmarthenshire is a Welsh unitary authority which has the same boundaries as the original administrative county of Carmarthenshire. It is no longer an administrative county – that was abolished in 1974 - but it is one of 13 historic counties. Even though Llanelli is by far the largest town in Carmarthenshire, its county town is Carmarthen, because of its central location.

Infant Mortality

From English parish records between 1500 and 1800, historians have discovered that infant mortality – death during the first year of life – was around 140 out of 1,000 live births, compared to around 4 out of 1,000 live births today. Causes of death included unidentifiable fevers, dysentery, scarlet fever, whooping cough, influenza, pneumonia, and smallpox.

Many infant and child deaths are recorded in the registers.

In addition, a number of paupers are included in earlier records.

Causes of death

Some of the earlier images provide details on causes of death. A number of people in the earlier records died from smallpox. The decline of smallpox in later records coincides with the establishment of the Vaccination Act of 1853, which ordered mandatory vaccination for babies up to three months old. The Act of 1867 extended the age requirement to 14 years, as well as adding penalties for vaccine refusal.

Occasionally, causes of death can be vague: A woman called Elizabeth who was buried on 10 June 1778 died intriguingly of “a Lingering Disorder”.