Findmypast Friday
Diocese of Plymouth joins Findmypast’s exclusive Catholic Heritage Archive
Roman Catholic Church Records
Findmypast have expanded their exclusive collection of Catholic parish registers with over 100,000 records covering 59 parishes across Cornwall, Devon & Dorset.
Published online for the first time in association with Diocese of Plymouth, this valuable new resource spans 1781-1921 and includes;
- Over 55,000 baptism records
- Over 16,000 marriage records
- Over 15,000 burial records
- Over 15,000 congregational records
Each record includes both a transcript and scanned colour image of the original document. The amount of information listed in these detail rich records may vary, although most results will reveal key biographical details as well as the date, parish, and location of the event that was being recorded.
Baptisms will reveal the names of godparents and parents, enabling you to uncover details of previous generations as well as the identities of family friends or relatives. Marriages will provide the name of your ancestor’s spouse, father and witnesses while burials allow you to discover the final resting place of your ancestors, their age at death, marital status and in some cases even cause of death.
Congregational records are packed with other fascinating facts surrounding your ancestor’s relationship with the church such as details of their confirmation, first confession or even the location of their seat rental.
As many of the original registers were written in Latin, Findmypast have applied a Latin dictionary to the name search field. This gives their search the capability to search for the English and Latin versions of a name when the name variants option is selected.
Today’s release marks just the latest update to the Catholic Heritage Archive, Findmypast’s ground-breaking digitisation project to bring millions of records from across Scotland, England, Ireland and American online for the very first time.
The Roman Catholic Church holds some of the oldest and best-preserved family records which, until now, have remained locked away for centuries. By working with partners at various Archdiocese, Findmypast has enabled millions of users across the world to explore their Catholic roots online.
Newspapers
This week’s Findmypast Friday update also sees 11 new papers added to the Findmypast newspaper archive along with updates to 18 existing titles. New arrivals include:
- Cosmopolitan covering 1865 and 1868-1876
- Illustrated Crystal Palace Gazette covering 1853-1854
- Illustrated Midland News covering 1869-1871
- Illustrated Newspaper covering 1871
- London Illustrated Weekly covering 1874
- South London Advertiser covering 1863-1866
- Surrey Herald and County Advertiser covering 1826-1828
- Tichborne Gazette covering 1872 and 1874-1875
- Warminster Herald covering 1857, 1859-1869, 1872-1874, 1877-1880, 1882-1884 and 1886-1893
- Westerham Herald covering 1883-1889, 1893-1896, 1898-1935
- Wolverton Express covering 1901-1954
While additional pages have been added to:
- Borough of Greenwich Free Press from 1857
- Bury Free Press from 1997
- Fenland Citizen from 1989
- Grantham Journal from 1960-1967, 1981-1983 and 1995-1996
- Haverhill Echo from 1994-1997
- Herne Bay Press from 1898
- Islington Times from 1858
- Kentish Express 1878
- Liverpool Albion from 1837, 1851, 1859 and 1865
- Lloyd’s List from 1913
- Music Hall and Theatre Review from 1902-1903
- New Milton Advertiser from 1992
- Newmarket Journal from 1997
- Saffron Walden Weekly News from 1997
- South Eastern Gazette from 1910
- Spalding Guardian from 1957, 1961-1963 and 1995-1997
- Suffolk and Essex Free Press from 1997
- Wellington Gazette and Military Chronicle from 1879