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documents and sources
Abbreviations for sources used in this site
BT - Bishop's Transcript. If mentioned probably means seen in BT but not in PR, so could be suspect. However, in lower case, by date, can also mean baptised.
DDGO = Godolphin Papers consulted in Cornish Record Office 1980s
Don = book by Donald Eustace called Eustaces of the Chiltern Hundreds produced by EFA. Copy held PE..
MC = Mormon charts - printouts used in the 1980s provided by the Church of LTS and not always 100% reliable - use more as a basis for exploration and confirmation. Now available on-line, see below.
PR - parish register, usually taken first hand but not necessarily beyond challenge. Can also mean Protestation Returns of 1641/2.
SCH = St Catherine's House, where certifcates of birth, marriage and death used to be housed. Indicates their index was used as a source in 1980s.
SL - Scillies List.
TBC = To Be Confirmed - usually charts I have been sent but not confirmed with any first hand research or original sources.
Official sites (usually reliable)
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ start here for wills, census returns, advice etc. They have an A-Z of contents.
Kersen Kernow (Cornwall Centre) is a new home for historical archives, including newspapers.
The BBC have useful hints
Doomsday Book - if you feel really old.
Unofficial sites, with variable reliablitity
UK
Cornwall Family History Society is a very useful source, including monumental inscriptions etc For example, not all births wil be in C of E parish registers. For non-conformists see PRO index in London, Congregational Library in Ludgate Hill and Dr. Wliiiams Library, Gordon Square (CFHS 27 -14). They have a general history of emigration (17 -5) an article on tinners' riots (22-16) a gazeteer with parish and place name information (25-8) and a list of foreign deaths (27-4).
There is a useful site on English Eustaces which has masses of material from the old Eustace Familes Association, including a list of others also researching the name and transcriptions of some English parish records
Federation of Family History Societies offers transcriptions
Cornwall Online Parish Clerks is a searchable database
The Cornwall Guide wil give you location, pictures and a description of most parishes. You can now Google most parishes and get sources of local history and traanbscripts - just put in X parish records or X parish. You will then have to judge the reliability of the sources.
Cornwall online census project
Cornwall Online has lists of convicts, executions, mines....
Curious Fox lists people seeking info by place name and surname
Cornwall by Cornishlight offer links, including a source of old maps
Cornwall Calling also has links to other useful sites
History.uk.com has directory listings of British history related venues and organisations and a timeline.
Ancestry.com leads to rootsweb, which is useful for emigré searches. Beware commecial charges.
International Genealogical Index is the on-line version of the Mormon lists. They contain mistakes but are sometimes a useful way to get first clues. Beware the range of sources they use, some better than others - "Ancestral File is a collection of genealogical information taken from Pedigree Charts and Family Group Records submitted to the Family History Department since 1978. The information has not been verified against any official records." A printout obtained in the 1980s for Cornish Eustices, based on transcripts, is the source referred on charts as MC.
Free BMD is a transcription project.
Rootschat list of free sources, including transcritpions. See also rootsweb.com for searches
Passenger lists. searchable by surname and port, with variants.
History of Cornwall by Fortescue Hitchens 1824 available on Google books with searchable text
Extracts from Lakes Parochial History
If you have a Facebook account, you could try jopining the Genealogy Cottage, the International Genealogy Group or the more limited UK group or the Family History group. Between them they have a range of tutorials, links and contacts.
USA and Australia
Eustice Families Assocation has now moved to roneustice.com (good for US) and for Australia contact Jim Eustace at EustaceFamilies@mail2Australia.com
Sam and Barbara Eustice have traced Cornish connections
Free search and software at family tree legends
General bibliography
Old Falmouth by DE Gay
General lists, maps and indices held by PE, some of which are not but not yet fully explored or uploaded, include:
Register of wills 1858-1929 taken from Somerset House in 1980s - D73
List of wills 1578-1858 with various spellings made 1985 including some Devon probates - source unknown - D74
Summary of wills held by Eurwen Mascall - D75
Cornwall and Devon wills at Bodmin from British Record Society Part 1 1569-1669 D76
Index Prer of Canterbury wills Vol 1 (part) bD77
List of wills and admin bonds held in Cornwall County Council record office about 1980 D78
Extract from Year Book of Probates Vol 4 1645-49 at Soc Gen. - D79
Extract of wills 1860-1938 at PRO made by D. W. Eustace for EFA - D82
Marriages 1810-87
London birth/baptisms 16th C - source unknown - D81
Oath Rolls D139
Goldophin papers D140
Muster Rolls D141
Protestation Return 1641 D142
Lay Subsidy Rolls fo Penwith c 1522 D143
Some census returns and my own transcipts of BMD from some parish records are also held as hard copy, although most of the content has been uploaded in chart form and now you can cross-check them on line anyway.
Map of ecclesiastical parishes in Cornwall 1983 (CRO) D144 and for 1877 D145.
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