Truro St John, Cornwall Genealogy

Parish History
Truro St John was built as a Chapel to Kenwyn, Cornwall Ancient parish as a boundary reorganisation ot Truro.

The foundation stone was laid on 5th April 1827, and opened in 1828. It is situated in Lemon Street, and was built in the Italian style. Over the entrance is a Grecian bell turret which originally contained a single bell.

St John's was built in 1828 it was a simple rectangular block with a whitewashed interior and balconies on the north and south sides. A new church was needed because Kenwyn Church and St Mary's (now incorporated into Truro Cathedral) were full. The architect was Philip Sambell of Devonport. Alterations were made in 1860. The curved apse was built in Italian style. The architect was William Henry Reid of Plymouth.

The Parish was formed in 1865.

In 1884 the church was opened after extensive alterations. The architect was James Arthur Reeve of Exeter. The church was altered beyond recognition. The wooden ornamental ceiling had been constructed and new stained glass windows were installed, including the eagle of St John at the west end. The windows in the north gallery depict David. There are two in the south of Moses and Melchizedek. The theme of the apse is the resurrection. The windows show Jonah and Elijah. The organ and case had been installed. The alterations envisaged by Reeve were continued in 1892 and on completion meant that the church looked much as it does today. The Reverend Frank Edward Lewis was the Minister from 1892 to 1907. He was responsible for the painting in the apse and the five paintings on wood in the baptistry and was probably the artist. The five paintings in the baptistry illustrate the evangelisation of Britain: King Ethelbert, baptised 597 St Aidan, Celtic Mission from Iona St Cybi (Cuby), born Cornwall (he has the face of Dr Mason who was Bishop Benson's chaplain) St Gregory St Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury (he has the face of Truro's first bishop, Bishop Benson, who became Archbishop)

Civil Registration
Births, marriages and deaths were kept by the government from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is Free BMD.

Church records
Overview, Include information for parish registers and Bishop's Transcripts, Contact information for the office holding the original records, Links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Images of parish registers are available online in historic records (formerly Record Search) Images refer to Cornwall County Record Office reference: P 238

Cornwall Online Parish Clerks
An extremely useful resource is the Cornwall Online Parish Clerks page for the parish http://www.cornwall-opc.org/Par_new/t_z/truro.php

The history, registers and much more have been contributed by the Online Parish clerk for Truro parishes.

Census records
Overview, Include any unique information such as, the census for X year was destroyed, Collection in FHL and link to catalog, Online sites.

http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Cornwall Online Census Project

Poor Law Unions
Upon creation the parish was incorporated into Truro Poor Law Union in 1865

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to [county] Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
There are many maps and gazetteers showing English places. Valuable web sites are:


 * England Jurisdictions 1851 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Add here any relevant sites that aren't mentioned above.