Cornwall Compiled Genealogies: Difference between revisions

Resources for genealogical research are among the best to be found in the United Kingdom. The GENUKI pages for Cornwall [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/ http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/] are unmatched by those of any other part of the United Kingdom, and they are essential to Cornish research. The pages for individual parishes are extensive and detailed with accurate information that is of great value.  There is often more information provided on the listing of a single small parish in Cornwall than is found for an entire county elsewhere in the UK. The site is meticulously maintained and kept current.  There is such extensive information provided, that it is beyond the scope of this posting to even begin to describe what is there.  

The Cornwall Record Office is another essential resource, and can be visited in person (appointment is usually necessary) or copies of records can be ordered by mail. They maintain the records that one would expect to find there, and an online catalog can be found at [http://crocat.cornwall.gov.uk/DServe/searchpage.htm http://crocat.cornwall.gov.uk/DServe/searchpage.htm].  Some wills were kept at Exeter (Devon) and lost to bombing during the Second World War, but there are about 80,000 wills available for research at the CRO in Truro.  

The Cornish Studies Library at the Cornwall Centre in Redruth [http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=6773 http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=6773] is a vital repository of information with many collections, including microfilms of all the main Cornish newspapers up to the present day, many dating back to the mid 18th century.   The Courtenay Library at the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro  [http://www.royalcornwallmuseum.org.uk/ http://www.royalcornwallmuseum.org.uk/] has printed books and periodicals covering the history of Cornwall from the prehistoric to the modern period.  It also has important collections of archives of Cornish families and historic photographs.  The websites give more detailed information about their collections.  

Many parish records have been extracted by the LDS Church and are found in the IGI. The Hugh Wallis index of IGI batch numbers, which also gives the coverage in Cornwall by parish and years, is found at [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers/CountyCornwall.htm http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers/CountyCornwall.htm]   When parish records are not available or have been lost, that information may sometimes be found in the bishops transcripts.   Despite the fact that the Church of England (Anglican) is the established church in Cornwall, a major part of the population turned to Methodism and other smaller groups (of which the Bible Christian Movement was the largest).  By the mid 19th century there were more Methodists than Anglicans in Cornwall, which must be remembered by all researchers, as a search of only the Church of England parish records would miss information for more than half the population during the 19th century.  Methodism was especially dominant in the mining districts of Western Cornwall.  However, until at least 1837, nearly all marriages were in the Anglican Churches, even among the Methodists.  One must also know that burial of many Methodists continued to take place in the Anglican Church cemeteries.  

In addition to the large databases which can be accessed on the usual commercial sites, there are excellent searchable databases available without cost. The most accurate census transcriptions (because they were done by Cornish people familiar with the names and places) are found at the Cornwall Online Census Project at [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kayhin/ukocp.html http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kayhin/ukocp.html]. The UK Census Online (FreeCEN), while not uniquely Cornish, is also valuable and will often yield positive results when other sites providing the census fail to find the person sought, because the search function allows a phonetic search of surnames. This is found at [http://www.freecen.org.uk/ http://www.freecen.org.uk/]. The civil registration indexes are also available, as part of all those for England and Wales at [http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ http://www.freebmd.org.uk/].  

A devastating collapse of the economy in Cornwall during the 19th century resulted in a massive exodus of much of the population (referred to as the Cornish Diaspora), and it was not until 1971 that the population of Cornwall returned to that (about 350,000) of the mid-19th century. It is estimated that there are approximately six million people worldwide with Cornish ancestry, and fewer than 10% now live in Cornwall. Inasmuch as the most important segment of the economy had been mining, those who are seeking to find families who left Cornwall are most likely to have success when searching in places where mining was important. In the USA, the Cornish are found in large numbers in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and California, but are everywhere throughout the country. In Canada, Ontario was the most common destination, and many went to South Africa, as well as mining districts in Latin America, such as the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. Massive emigration to Australia, especially South Australia, and New Zealand took place, and Moonta, South Australia is still known as "Little Cornwall."