A-Z Challenge 2016: T is for Toleration Act

I'm still tracing those nonconformist Protestant Dissenter ancestors of mine, and when we last met them, they were being fined for being recusants and not going to (the established) church.  The fact was recorded, so there's one source - and here's another.

In 1689, an Act of Parliament was passed which said that Protestant Dissenters (except for Unitarians) could meet in their own houses of worship as long as said houses were registered and not in an organisational structure that linked them all together (which suited my ancestors just fine, as their nonconformism evolved into the Independent faith).

The registration included lots of family history information. The name of the religion (obviously), the minister, whose house the meetings were being held in, and the names of leading members of the faith.  I really must go to my county record office to see if any of my ancestors were 'leading members'.

© 2016 Ros Haywood. All Rights Reserved