CORNWALL FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY
5 Victoria Square, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 2RS  UK      
Telephone  01872 264044   overseas +44 1872 264044

Library 

The Society's Research Library at 5 Victoria Square, Truro, is open to all, staffed by volunteer members (Non-members may make a donation)

Opening Hours:

Monday 10am to 4pm. 
Tuesday and Saturday closed. 
Wednesday to Friday 11am to 3pm. 
Additionally, evening sessions Wednesday and Thursday 6 30 to 9pm,

by prior booking only - please telephone or email in advance. 

RESOURCES AVAILABLE

The GRO Indexes (formerly St Catherine's Indexes) for England and Wales. 
The complete indexes of Civil Registration (Births, Marriages & Deaths) 1837 - 1999, on microfiche, alphabetically arranged for each quarter. Other GRO miscellaneous indexes include War Deaths; Armed Services births, deaths, marriages overseas, 1796 - 1965 ; Consular indexes; etc. 

Census returns: 
1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1891 and 1901 for the whole of Cornwall on microfiche.
As our volunteer transcribers continue to work, an increasing proportion of parishes are indexed, the indexes can be searched on the computer.  Please see the progress page for details.
1881 British Isles Census, indexed by LDS, on microfiche and computer.

The International Genealogical Index (IGI): 
1988 edition for Cornwall, England and most of the world. 1992 edition for Cornwall and Devon. 

Marriages:
All marriages recorded in Cornwall up to the start of civil registration in 1837 have been transcribed and are available for surname search on our database.   The Phillimore transcripts, 1538 - 1812, covering most of Cornwall, are chronological in parishes (26 volumes) and indexed by CFHS alphabetically for the county.  Ross and Boyd Marriage Indexes covering most of Cornwall, both alphabetical in 25 year periods, and containing parishes not covered by Phillimore. Ross goes to the 1870s generally and to 1925 in many cases; Boyd to 1812.  

Burial / Monumental Inscriptions (MIs): 
The MIs (gravestones) for many burial grounds in Cornwall have been recorded and indexed alphabetically. Most of the Burial registers, 1813-1837, have been indexed alphabetically. (The MIs is an ongoing project and regularly updated) 

Other material: 
Transcripts of many parish registers; many overseas records; journals of other Family History Societies including overseas; family pedigrees and histories; parish histories; poor law apprenticeship/master records; some passenger lists; strays, much material concerning emigration, particularly to the USA. 

Many of the Society's records have been computerised, giving rapid access. The Society's computer contains almost three million items at present and more are being added regularly. 

LIBRARY SERVICES 

The Society is proud of its many research facilities and even if you are unable to visit the Library in person, you can still ask for a postal search, (members only). We ask for a research fee and a SAE/IRC for each class of enquiry. Overseas members may pay in dollars if they prefer. Members in South Africa may pay the fee in mint UK stamps available from the British Philatelic Bureau, 20 Brandon Street, Edinburgh EH3 5TT 

Searches can be carried out in most of the Library material but our volunteers' time is very limited and we CANNOT offer a full genealogical research service. However, as many of our indexes are now held on computer or microfiche we can offer a printout service, which will provide all the references held on that index to a particular surname or surnames. If you are searching for a specific event such as a particular marriage or burial we can adapt our search of the index/indexes to meet your request. Although every care is taken when compiling research indexes mistakes do occur and members are reminded that the original source material should always be checked. The Cornwall Record Office hold most of the original parish registers and researchers should apply to the Record Office if they want further information concerning individual entries from the parish registers.
The 1901 Census (on microfilm) is also held by the Cornish Studies Library

Computer printouts 
Printouts for specific surnames are available to members from these indexes.
Please specify the surname and its variant spellings and the index to be searched e.g. "Bray/Brea Marriage Index" and make your enquiry as specific as possible. Please note that for some names, such as WILLIAMS, THOMAS, RICHARDS, ROWE, STEPHENS, the amount of data held is very very large, and members should consider what they need before asking for a large costly printout. It is suggested that members searching for a common name might limit the search by adding a forename, or if a specific parish is wanted, purchase of the parish booklet may be a cheaper alternative  - see the online shop

Postal enquiries - Members only 
Please send your request to the appropriate contact at the address above. Please enclose SAE/IRC, and we will advise cost of the printouts. For other searches as detailed in the Journal,  please include the relevant fee and stamped addressed envelope or two International Reply Coupons. We cannot guarantee a reply without a SAE/IRC. All cheques made out to Cornwall Family History Society please, not individuals.