Alec TRITTON
Why were they nonconformists and how can I find them?
There are two main waves of English dissent. The first wave in the 17th Century had at its root the Elizabethan Puritans and from this sprung the Congregationalists, Baptists, Presbyterians and Unitarians. Of those founded in the 17th Century the Quakers were the most successful and now the only survivor. From the middle of the 18th Century the second wave consisted of various branches of Methodism and the influx of denominations from Europe such as the Moravians. A number of other denominations and offshoots existed such as the Sandemanians, Inghamites, Swedenborgians, Universalists, Irvingites and Countess of Huntigdon Connexion existed. Most of these kept some form of records though the majority of marriages and burials appear in the Church of England registers. The records of nonconformists are of great interest to family historians some such as that of the Quakers are superb but only the Swedenborgians and Moravians have anything like the same thoroughness.