Post by allene on Aug 17, 2015 4:42:51 GMT -5
I have been transcribing the very difficult to read first parish register of Zennor and thought that these notes from my introduction to the transcription could be of interest:
The first Parish Register of Zennor is in a poor state, being kept in damp conditions in the parish church for many years. Many pages are missing and others have large parts missing, have faded writing, are disintegrating and are affected by white mould. In addition, conservation has resulted in some pages being covered in a fine gauze which makes those pages difficult to read.
Following the passing of the Population Act in 1831, a survey of Parish Register Books was undertaken, and in 1833 the details of these books were published. For Zennor, it was recorded that the first volume contained baptisms, burials and marriages for 1592 or 1593 to 1713.
John Hobson Matthews, author of The History of the Parishes of St Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor, in the County of Cornwall (1892), noted that the Zennor parish registers commence circa 1590 ‘but the early portion has been almost entirely destroyed by damp. The first volume is a small quarto bound in calf. The first legible entry is: 1618. Baptised Nicholas son of John Bereman.’
Cornwall Parish Registers Vol. IX (1906), edited by W P W Phillimore and Thomas Taylor, Vicar of St Just in Penwith, has a transcript of marriages for Zennor from 1617 to 1812 extracted by the Reverend Thomas Taylor. A prefatory note for the Zennor entries records that:
‘The earliest Zennor Register, which dates from the year 1599, is in a sad state of decay. Damp has destroyed many pages, and those which remain are in tatters and in many places illegible. The present Vicar is about to submit the book to an expert in the hope that it may be saved, for a time at least, from utter destruction.’ ‘The page of Marriages which precedes the year 1617 is quite illegible with the exception of a word here or there.’
W. Treffey Hoblyn transcribed baptisms November 1599 - June 1837, burials April 1713 - June 1837 and marriages January 1813 - July 1837 from the Zennor Registers in 1934, but the only entries transcribed from before 1713 were two pages of baptisms for parts of 1599, 1600, 1602 and 1603 (which he has incorrectly transcribed as 1608). These pages were, in fact, a transcription of the original pages by Reverend Samuel Sweet in 1633.
The first Parish Register of Zennor is in a poor state, being kept in damp conditions in the parish church for many years. Many pages are missing and others have large parts missing, have faded writing, are disintegrating and are affected by white mould. In addition, conservation has resulted in some pages being covered in a fine gauze which makes those pages difficult to read.
Following the passing of the Population Act in 1831, a survey of Parish Register Books was undertaken, and in 1833 the details of these books were published. For Zennor, it was recorded that the first volume contained baptisms, burials and marriages for 1592 or 1593 to 1713.
John Hobson Matthews, author of The History of the Parishes of St Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor, in the County of Cornwall (1892), noted that the Zennor parish registers commence circa 1590 ‘but the early portion has been almost entirely destroyed by damp. The first volume is a small quarto bound in calf. The first legible entry is: 1618. Baptised Nicholas son of John Bereman.’
Cornwall Parish Registers Vol. IX (1906), edited by W P W Phillimore and Thomas Taylor, Vicar of St Just in Penwith, has a transcript of marriages for Zennor from 1617 to 1812 extracted by the Reverend Thomas Taylor. A prefatory note for the Zennor entries records that:
‘The earliest Zennor Register, which dates from the year 1599, is in a sad state of decay. Damp has destroyed many pages, and those which remain are in tatters and in many places illegible. The present Vicar is about to submit the book to an expert in the hope that it may be saved, for a time at least, from utter destruction.’ ‘The page of Marriages which precedes the year 1617 is quite illegible with the exception of a word here or there.’
W. Treffey Hoblyn transcribed baptisms November 1599 - June 1837, burials April 1713 - June 1837 and marriages January 1813 - July 1837 from the Zennor Registers in 1934, but the only entries transcribed from before 1713 were two pages of baptisms for parts of 1599, 1600, 1602 and 1603 (which he has incorrectly transcribed as 1608). These pages were, in fact, a transcription of the original pages by Reverend Samuel Sweet in 1633.