CFHS General Help
This general help applies to all data sets.
The CFHS has extended abbreviated forenames such as Wm to William, My to Mary etc. Where alternatives might occur, such as Joseph or Josiah for Jos, we have used other data to confirm the forename.
Until the early 1700s, Parish Register entries were often recorded in Latin, especially forenames. CFHS has transcribed them into English for ease of research.
All date fields have been entered as text. As a consequence, any search result that is sorted by the date field will not sort from 1 Jan to 31 Dec; it will begin with 1 Apr, 1 Aug etc. and end with 30 Sep (see Note). Not all events provided full dates and sometimes events may have been noted in original document incorrectly; e.g. 30 Feb, 31 Apr etc.
The keystroke combination of Ctrl+F will allow you to search any data set for a string of text. For example, enter 1803 to find results for that specific year.
Wild cards *, %, ? and _ may be used in any search. Any of the wildcards acts in place of required characters. The *, ? or % can take the place of multiple characters while the _ can take the place of a single character.
Any field that is computer calculated is shown in red. For example in the 1851 census, Philemon PILL is shown to be 30 years old so his calculated birth year is 1821. Bear in mind, however, that due to the date the census was taken, the actual birth year could be a year earlier than the one calculated. In the example given, the 1851 census was taken on 30 March 1851 so the actual date of birth could be between 31 March 1820 and 30 March 1821. This should help with your search in subsequent census returns and other documents.
Where appropriate, FAQs have been included on each help page.
Errors in any data set may be reported using the appropriate link at the bottom of the page.
Note: Sorting date fields entered as text uses a strict numerical and alphabetical sequence in accordance with the ASCII computer code.
Monumental Inscriptions
Monumental Inscriptions, or MIs, was a project started by the Society many years ago. Teams went out with notebooks and recorded huge numbers of gravestones throughout Cornwall. This early work has enabled the work to continue more efficiently today.
In the early years of the computer age, data from these notebooks was entered into a database. However, it was decided that only an index would be entered on the current system. This provides a name and a date of death or [REF] if a person is referred to on a headstone but not necessarily dead at that time.
e.g. Mary SMITH who died 25 Jan 1850 aged 60 and John SMITH [REF]. Mary will have full dates but John will be in the index as [REF].
Once computers had more memory, some “Value Added” data was incorporated into some of the entries and this work continues.
e.g. Mary SMITH who died 25 Jan 1850, wife of John SMITH, Blacksmith of Trevissick Farm, Luxulyan.
There was often a hand-drawn plan to accompany the recordings and during the transcription process some entries were put into alphabetical order and then numbered but this has no relevance to the plot on these plans. Maps are drawn for each new burial ground covered and this will make locating the gravestone easier.
After a time without a co-ordinator, the MI project was restarted in 2002 when it was decided to add digital photographs to the information. At that time, the existing information was checked and gravestones that had been omitted or missed were also added. At the same time, a standard was written so that future recording would be consistent. Several new burial grounds have been added in later surveys.
The Society established a partnership with most of Cornwall’s district and town councils responsible for cemeteries in the county so that our numbering system could be matched to their system. With their permission, burial books were scanned and that information was matched to gravestones. Some cemeteries were recorded, photographed and numbered before this partnership was established and re-numbering is not yet complete; e.g. Tywardreath and Horson cemeteries have the CFHS numbering system and need to be changed to the council system.
When searching for a headstone you may find information is in one of three states:
- Basic Index - includes surname, forename, date of death etc.
- Value Added - includes surname, forename, date of death, relationships and location names if given on the stone.
- Complete - includes surname, forename, date of death, relationships and location names if they are given on the stone. There will also be a digital image and a location number.
The Society offers a service for locating graves and photographing them. Contact our research service for details.
As we finish a burial ground, complete with map, we are producing a CD of the information gathered but this is in its early stages.
Monumental Inscriptions Q & A
Q. Why is there information from other than headstones?
A. The Society made a conscious decision that "monuments" were any item donated, presented or erected in the name of someone regardless of whether it is a headstone, bench, wall plaque or any other item.
Q. Why are there are some invalid dates e.g. 30 February?
A. At times, the stonemasons have inscribed dates such as 30 or 31 February or 31st of months with only 30 days. We transcribed what was on the monument.
Q. Why is there more information on some locations than others?
A. The Monumental Inscription database information is in one of three states:
- Basic Index: In the early days, when our database was first created, computers did not have a lot of memory. Therefore, only the names and dates were entered nto the database.
- Value Added: The original transcription books used by our volunteers were checked for additional information such as relationships, farm names and places of death where provided on the monument.
- Complete: The Society has finished this location. The original information was verified “on the ground”, additions made and digital photographs taken. Information on these locations is up-to-date at the time our team leaves the location.
Printing
Before printing your information, it would be advisable to change your page setup to landscape format. This will enlarge the image when printed and allow you to read the information more easily.
To print the information, use your normal method of printing a page.
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