Merritt/ett family (Parish Records)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, March 13, 2014, 23:23 (3942 days ago) @ Valeriem

Hi Valerie,
without wishing to step on MPG's toes, I suspect she's enjoying this long-awaited spring sunshine on the golf course at the mo. Yes, what we used to call "gypsies" in certainly since my 70s childhood, we now use the modern UK term "travellers". As she's said essentially travelling workers such as Hawkers, Basket Makers, Tinsmiths and Tinkers etc, not just Romanies. Sadly I don't think there are many of their records still existing beyond the Census' data altho some did use Churches for Baptisms, marriages etc, depending on their faith if any.

I imagine you may have already tried searching the Glos Archives Genealogical database ?. It has many Merritt/ett records including Non Conformists, Canal people, etc. This is a good startpoint for what you might want to look for when you visit the Archives.
http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/genealogy/Search.aspx

Also use this searchengine for the archives generally, again to help plan your visit.
http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/DServe/DServe.exe?dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Index.tcl

Also see http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives/searching

Hope this helps for now, at least until MPG who will undoubtedly answer far better than I can.