Crowan Parish Registers

[Cornish Terrier]

Hopefully this information will help more than just a few!

I have long had trouble getting information about the Trewhela families of Crowan.

I searched parts of the PRs at the CRO and found them a mess and I have also had at least one other person extract the information I required.

But nothing ever looked right and there were certainly things that did not match when compared with the IGI.

Thanks to the recent addition of the Cornwall PRs to the RecordSearch site I have been able to view those again.

What I found was more confusion and one big nightmare of hard work due to the condition of the documents.

Information that appears in IGI along with some of that extracted by my cousin simply could not be found in these PRs.

It is not simply because of the condition of the documents but more that the contents of this batch of PRs is not actually complete!

What pages there are do run in sequence and they have been numbered so there is technically nothing missing.

As an example - Image contains baptisms for 1731 and covers to at least early February 1731/2.
This page has the number 58 pencilled in which was probably part of the process when the fragmented pages were 'mounted' for preservation.
The next page (pencilled number 59) is Image 42 and about two-thirds down the page are the wrds 'Anno Dom. 1734' which is followed by a baptism dated 7th April.

The top part of this page covers the last part of 1733 from January to March.

In effect we have the best part of TWO YEARS of baptisms missing!

But there does seem to be a way around the problem - at least a way that will help to a point.

LDS Batch C022262 contains the information on Image 42 (i.e. January to March 1733) but does not contain the earlier baptisms for that year.

LDS Batch C022263 appears to be the reverse - it contains the records for March through December!

So anyone trying to search Crowan for records of their family needs to refer to at least the following items to be anywhere near sure of finding everything.

One. The PRs which are now online at RecordSearch which are quite fragmented and extremely difficult (if at all possible in parts) to read.
These are in two main parts being (a) Baptisms, Marriages, Burials1691-1742 and (b) Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1743-1812.
There is also Marriages 1754-1812. Unfortunately the tops of almost every page are badly damaged and in most cases very little information can be read.

Two. There is a Transcript by Dick BAWDEN which covers the whole period and apparently utilises both the Devon and Exeter BTs.
Although a Transcript it may well be the best alternative to the original PRs given the inclusion of data from the BTs.
It is available through the LDS.

Three. LDS Batch numbers C022262 (covers 1674-1794) and C022263 (covers 1674-1772)
These are for Baptisms and there are also at least some burial records although they are only recorded by IGI where the names of parents are recorded in the original.

Four. For Marriages there is Phillimore, the CFHS Transcript and LDS Batch M022262

There may well be other sources but this is what I have found so far.

It does mean a lot more work but to be sure of getting everything possible it would be wise to check all of these ............... and I am about to do just that and put together a spreadsheet for all my Crowan Trewhela records!!

Hope that helps!

CT

[donne]

I'm a great fan of the transcript by W. L. BAWDEN. This is a great piece of work indexed and cross-referenced with BTs and inconsistencies noted. I think this should be the first port of call for Crowan researchers. In some cases, I've followed the link to the original PRs only to find I couldn't read the fiche (at the CRO). The on-line PRs are a much more restful experience but unfortunately cannot restore what was damaged in the original. You would think that Phillimores would be better for marriages since the transcription was made when the documents were younger and should have been in better condition. However I know to my cost that it omits one of my family marriages which is quite clear in the original PRs -so be warned! I've consulted the Bawden Transcript at the CRO and Cornwall FHS - I didn't know that it was available from LDS as CT says.

[Cornish Terrier]

If you go into FamilySearch.org you can navigate your way to the listing.

Under the 'Library' tag click on 'Library Catalog' and a selection of options appears on the right.

Click the first of these which is 'Place Search' and then enter the name of the Parish and click enter. (If there is more than one place of that name then locate the one you want and click on it.)

Then from the list of options click on 'Church Records' and you will be presented with a list of the LDS holdings.

The Bawden Transcript is the last on this list and you need to scroll down to see it.

For details of any of these simply click on the link.

Then click on 'View Film Notes' which is a button at the top right and this will give more precise details of what is on each film.

CT

[donne]

Aug 11, 2010 13:34:35 GMT -5 Cornish Terrier said:

If you go into FamilySearch.org you can navigate your way to the listing.

Under the 'Library' tag click on 'Library Catalog' and a selection of options appears on the right.

Click the first of these which is 'Place Search' and then enter the name of the Parish and click enter. (If there is more than one place of that name then locate the one you want and click on it.)

Then from the list of options click on 'Church Records' and you will be presented with a list of the LDS holdings.

The Bawden Transcript is the last on this list and you need to scroll down to see it.

For details of any of these simply click on the link.

Then click on 'View Film Notes' which is a button at the top right and this will give more precise details of what is on each film.

CT

I did that. It says "GS Number 1849636: No circulation to family history centers." Can it be ordered?

[Cornish Terrier]

I should imagine so Roger.

Not sure about this 'no distribution to FHC' thing but if an item is in the catalogue then I see no reason why it could not be ordered.

CT

[donne]

Aug 13, 2010 3:53:53 GMT -5 Cornish Terrier said:

I should imagine so Roger.

Not sure about this 'no distribution to FHC' thing but if an item is in the catalogue then I see no reason why it could not be ordered.

CT

I actually enquired at my local family history centre today and was told that the film containing the Bawden transcript could not be supplied on order the local centre. Apparently this is not unusual and often authors/ archivists make reservations to restrict the distribution of material.

[Cornish Terrier]

Well there must be a way to access it or there seems no point in having it catalogued for people to see.

I will have to think about some avenues to explore.

[donne]

The point is that the on-line catalogue shows the material available at the Family History Library at Salt Lake City. As it says, "many items can be loaned to Family History Centers around the world" - but apparently not the Bawden transcript. If I understand the notes correctly, it also seems to be available at FHCs in Johannesburg and Los Angeles, but for me the paper copy at Truro is closer!

[Cornish Terrier]

I have just found another problem with the Crowan PRs.

Marriages 1813-1837 Image 8

I was looking for a particular marriage in June 1814 and could not find it and after a brief look around I found out why!

Pages 14-16 of the register are missing!

So we jump from a marriage on April 14th 1814 to the next one on August 2nd 1814.

There will be a duplicate register somewhere (I have found this from recent experience) as the CFHS have the marriage I want in their Index.

Unfortunately I was looking from other information such as 'condition' and 'witnesses'.

CT

[donne]

Well, that's very frustrating! Since the register seems to have been photographed two pages at a time, it looks as though page 17 follows page 12, and two leaves with pages 13/14 and 15/16 are missing from the volume. I wonder if anyone knows if the fiche at the CRO has a similar gap? Would there be a duplicate register? The CFHS index may have been compiled using BTs to fill in the gap, in which case the additional info will be lost. Perhaps the Crowan OPC could tell us the state of the registers.

I've now sent a message to the OPC asking if she knows of the missing pages and whether a duplicate register exists.

[Cornish Terrier]

I would think there are duplicate registers.

I know some Parishes I have dealt with recently have certainly had duplicates as there are notes referring to them.

One in fact stated that for Certified copies of entries the Duplicate Register should be used from then on. (i.e. the date the note was written)

Others are clearly duplicated as the handwriting is neat and consistent as if every entry on the page was written at the same time.

Judging by the CFHS Index I should think they have seen the duplicate as there is no reference to BTs for the particular entry I was interested in. (BT is usually noted in these Indexes where they have have been used)

CT

[donne]

I do have a copy on CD of the CFHS index of Crowan pre-registration marriages. I've checked the preamble and, as you say, all entries from BTs are marked as such. However, BTs only go up to 1812, so they could not be a source of an entry from 1814. The preamble acknowledges that the first register (which appears to cover dates 1691-1743 is in a dilapidated condition and contains interleaved pages of a transcript from a former vicar, Rev. Ezekiel Williams. However it says nothing about any inadequacy of the 1813-1837 register.

[Cornish Terrier]

A look at the LDS Library Catalog is interesting.

Under Crowan Church Records are these two items:-

Film 246799
Original Marriages 1754-1854

Film 1545417
Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1691-1812. Marriages, 1754-1813. Baptisms, 1813-1869. Burials, 1813-1900. Marriages, 1813-1847. (another filming)

A little ambiguous but there is scope there to indicate the two filmings might be of different copies of the same register.

BTs - the Library Catalog refers only to Exeter and Bodmin BTs 1674-1772 but this does not mean there were not other later BTs as with other Parishes.

There are many items not included in the Library Catalog including most of the Towednack and Zennor records.

As you say - the CFHS have not indicated any deficiencies in the 1813-1837 register.

CT

[Cornish Terrier]

As a matter of interest I have had a look at the CRO Online Catalog and there are only two references to BTs for Crowan.

1 BT/42/1
Bishops' transcripts, Crowan
1674-1750

2 BT/42/2
Bishops' transcripts, Crowan
1751-1772

If the CRO has everything catalogued then there are no more BTs which means the CFHS most certainly had access to a duplicate register.

CT