England, Devon, Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
The index to this collection refers to baptism, marriage, and burial records from the western part of the county of Devon for the years 1538-1912. This collection was done in cooperation with FindMyPast, and a full version of the index can be found at their website.

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.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Baptism
 * Name of the child
 * Date and place of baptism

Marriage
 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Age
 * Estimated year of birth

Burial
 * Name of the deceased
 * Date and place of burial
 * Age
 * Estimated year of birth

Collection Content
For additional details about these records and help using them see England Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

Digital Folder Number List
This collection was published as a DGS browse collection. A table listing each DGS number and its contents can be found at England, Devon, Parish Registers Digital Folder Number List.

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The name of the individual you are looking for
 * Approximate date of the marriage

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

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

 * Save or print a copy of the image or record, if possible. The original may contain information that was not recorded in the index
 * Use the information which you have found to estimate ages in other life events. For example, use a christening date to approximate a marriage date, or a burial record to calculate an estimated year of birth
 * Once you have found a christening or a burial church record, you may want to search for birth and death in civil records (1837 and later)
 * Use the information you have found to find the person and families in census records
 * Continue to search the index to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives. Note that family members often appear on an individual's 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 an individual with a common name, look at all the search results before deciding which is the correct person
 * If your ancestor does not have a common name, collect entries for every person who has the same surname
 * Be careful using the listed age on a marriage record to estimate a birth year. Rather than listing actual ages, clerks often wrote in 21 as the age of both the bride and groom to show that they each were of legal age
 * Search the records of nearby locations
 * Cornwall to the west
 * Somerset to the northeast
 * Dorset to the east
 * Check for other names. An individual might have been listed under a middle name, a nickname, or an 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. Try searching based on how the name may have been pronounced
 * Vary the search terms. For example, expand the date range or search by either the given name or surname to return a broader list of results
 * The individual might not have records in the Church of England at all, but rather might have belonged to a nonconformist denomination
 * When you search baptismal records, remember that it was not unusual for a child to be baptized weeks or even months after birth
 * Some parish records might have been lost over time. Bishop's Transcripts can also be a good source of information
 * Note that marriages often took place in the parish where the bride resided

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in Devon.
 * Devon Guided Research
 * England Record Finder
 * England Research Tips and Strategies

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.