England, Cornwall Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

This collection consists of parish registers from the counties of Devon and Cornwall for the years 1538-2010.

Why Should I Look at This Collection?
Parish registers have been kept at the local level across England since the mid-1500s. Due to this long and relatively stable tradition, these records are central to English genealogical research as they are often one of the only sources for finding families and individuals in England before the start of civil registration in 1837.

To learn more about parish registers, please see the England Parish Registers page.

What is in This Collection?
This collection contains select baptism, marriage, and burial records. Though the collection primarily contains Anglican records, it also includes some material for nonconformist chapels which were filmed at the Cornwall Record Office at the time of filming Church of England registers. There are also typed transcripts of Society of Friends marriages included for certain areas of the county.

Due to redrawing of diocese boundaries, this collection also contains many records from the bordering county of Devon. Until 1876, the Diocese of Exeter covered the counties of Devon and Cornwall on the southwestern peninsula of Great Britain. After 1876, the Diocese of Exeter lost much of its territory to the newly created the Diocese of Truro. Exeter retained most of the county of Devon, and Truro was given the county of Cornwall plus the Devon parishes of Virginstow and St Giles on the Heath.

How Do I Search This Collection?
You can find records either by searching the index or viewing the record images. Before using either search method, it is best to know the following information: As you search, compare your results with this information to find a match.
 * Name of the person
 * Date range for the record

Search the Index

 * 1) Go to the Collection Page.
 * 2) Enter the requested information into the search box.
 * 3) Click Search to return a list of possible matches.

View the Images

 * 1) Go to the collection Browse Page.
 * 2) Click on the correct County link.
 * 3) Click on the correct Town (with Parish) link.
 * 4) Click on the correct Event Type and Year Range (with Volume) link to go to the image viewer.
 * 5) Use the onscreen controls to move between record images as you look for a match.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Make sure to fully transcribe and cite the record entry for future reference. See below for assistance in citing this collection. Save or print a copy of the image if possible.
 * Use the information which has been discovered to find more. For instance, use the estimated age given in a marriage or burial record to calculate an approximate year of birth, if that is yet undetermined.
 * Use the information which has been discovered to find the individual in civil records. Particularly useful for research in nineteenth-century England are the England Census and the England Civil Registration records.
 * Continue to search the index to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives. Note that family members often appear on an individual's vital records, such as in the role of witnesses to a marriage.

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * When looking for a person with a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which individual is correct. Use other information, such as place of birth, age, occupation, or names of parents, to determine which candidate is the correct person. If listed, a personal title may be a clue to property ownership or occupation, either of which might be noted in other records.
 * Try variations of given names and surnames. An individual might appear under a different name in a record for a variety of reasons:
 * An individual might have been listed under a middle name, nickname, or abbreviation of their given name.
 * Spelling was not standardized for much of the period of this collection, so names were often spelled as scribes heard them. Pay attention to how the name should have been pronounced and try spelling variations that could have that pronunciation.
 * Some women returned to their maiden names after the death of their husbands.
 * Vary the search terms. For example, expand the date range or search by either the given name or surname to return broader list of results.
 * Search the records of nearby parishes. While a person normally never lived more than 20 miles from their place of birth, moves within this distance were common. For this collection, nearby parishes could fall in the bordering English counties of Somerset and Dorset to the west.
 * The individual might not have records in the Church of England at all, but rather might have belonged to a nonconformist denomination. See the Cornwall Nonconformist Records page for more information.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.


 * Collection Citation:

"England, Cornwall Parish Registers, 1538-2010." Database with Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2017. Cornwall Records Office, Truro.

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