I am quite new to genealogical research in England. I have learned a whole lot from posting to and lurking on this list, as well as by getting my hands dirty in the parish registers. I have been trying hard to piece together some families in my ancestry, and am finding that it is quite rare to be able to find enough information in the registers alone to be sure of family structure. My ancestors came primarily from rural areas (Brixton, Plympton, Plymstock), small parishes mostly, which makes things easier in some ways, but harder in others. I've noticed that for the most part, the small parishes are often neglected. One registry in particular that I have ancestors in has never been indexed, as far as I can tell. I have searched all the freely accessible indexes for wills that I can find, and have come up empty. >From what I can tell, it seems like a much larger range of documents, such as wills, court records, etc are available for searching... IF you live in Devon. Many on this list seem to be very skilled at researching and finding these other types of documents. My questions for the group are: 1. Which kinds of documents, or combination of documents (pre-1800's) tend to be the most valuable in terms of the amount and kind of information that would allow one to conclusively link a child to siblings and/or parents? 2. Are there any paid sites that would have wills, court documents, marriage certificates, settlement certificates, etc, available for searching? Specifically, I'm looking for these types of documents for the areas of Brixton, Plympton, Plymstock, and surrounding areas, for years 1600 - 1800. 3. If these kind of records are not available on any paid sites, what other means are there for obtaining these documents, assuming one does not have a bunch of money to pay a researcher in the DRO? Many Thanks, Blaine

Blaine, Your first stops should be: 1. GENUKI where you will find information on the particular Devon parishes. http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/shop/ 2. Plympton has an OPC (me) who you can contact for assistance with the parish registers. Other parishes are at http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/OPCproject.html 3. Devon Family History Society, which have many publications covering Devon parishes. http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/shop/ 4. At the Family History Centres of the Church of Latter Day Saints you can look at films of the old registers. Contact the one nearest you to find out how. 5. Your local family history society may have many individuals who can help you get started. I’m afraid there is no substitute for going through the register information, often image by image, if you do not know much about the pedigrees of your ancestors. Once you get back beyond the middle 1800s it is not always easy to determine the true family relationships, even with the data. Sometimes you just have to piece it together and come up with the most logical story. There are no conclusive methods of determining familial relationships. BMD data from registers, census data, wills, land documents, etc all have a bit of the story but they are almost always indirect when you get further back in time. You may want to take some courses online or otherwise, to get familiar with how to research and where to find documents. some are expensive but well worth the cost to get going in the right direction. There are lots of places you can go for information before you pay for a professional. Anyway, email me and we can look a bit at the Plympton area first. Wayne Shepheard Cornwood OPC www.cornwood-opc.com www.plymptonstmary-opc.com www.plymptonstmaurice-opc.com www.harford-opc.com -----Original Message----- From: Blaine Sanders Sent: Monday, December 23, 2013 2:43 PM To: devon@rootsweb.com Subject: [DEV] Finding Corroborating Evidence... I am quite new to genealogical research in England. I have learned a whole lot from posting to and lurking on this list, as well as by getting my hands dirty in the parish registers. I have been trying hard to piece together some families in my ancestry, and am finding that it is quite rare to be able to find enough information in the registers alone to be sure of family structure. My ancestors came primarily from rural areas (Brixton, Plympton, Plymstock), small parishes mostly, which makes things easier in some ways, but harder in others. I've noticed that for the most part, the small parishes are often neglected. One registry in particular that I have ancestors in has never been indexed, as far as I can tell. I have searched all the freely accessible indexes for wills that I can find, and have come up empty. >From what I can tell, it seems like a much larger range of documents, such as wills, court records, etc are available for searching... IF you live in Devon. Many on this list seem to be very skilled at researching and finding these other types of documents. My questions for the group are: 1. Which kinds of documents, or combination of documents (pre-1800's) tend to be the most valuable in terms of the amount and kind of information that would allow one to conclusively link a child to siblings and/or parents? 2. Are there any paid sites that would have wills, court documents, marriage certificates, settlement certificates, etc, available for searching? Specifically, I'm looking for these types of documents for the areas of Brixton, Plympton, Plymstock, and surrounding areas, for years 1600 - 1800. 3. If these kind of records are not available on any paid sites, what other means are there for obtaining these documents, assuming one does not have a bunch of money to pay a researcher in the DRO? Many Thanks, Blaine ------------------------------------------ The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon ( http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ ) and the Devon FHS (http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) List archive for Devon can be found at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DEVON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Blaine, It's worth seeing what the LDS has for the parishes in which you are interested. If there's an LDS Family History Centre within reach of where you live, you can hire microfilms and view them there. As for the question of which documents are most useful, I've found that it varies from parish to parish, since it often depends on just what has survived. Manorial records can be very good, but many have not survived, some are in private hands, and some are available but difficult to track down. The Manorial Documents Register may help. <www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/mdr> The "Parish Chest" documents can be very useful (Settlement examinations & certificates, Removal Orders, Filiation Orders, Apprenticeship indentures, etc.). If you can use online sources (Record Office catalogues, TNA Access to Archives (A2A), etc.) to identify the existence and location of these documents, then paying a researcher simply to look it up, copy it and email it to you may not be expensive. It's the searching that takes the time. Archive CD Books (www.archivecdbooks.org) can be a useful source of information for the County in which you have an interest. Family History Societies usually publish useful information and sometimes have a lookup facility. I'm not a member of the Devon Family History Society, so others may comment on the material that is available from that source. <www.devonfhs.org.uk> In terms of genealogical approaches, it tends to be best to attempt to reconstitute as much of your family of interest as possible. So don't just work backwards, follow siblings forwards to see whether any elderly relatives ended up living with them, for instance. This can firm up what may previously have been tentative theories. Also, don't forget Local History - what was happening at the time in the area. It may help to explain why a family moves. My great x4 grandfather, John QUAIL, was born in Hinckley, Leicestershire, but married a lass from Tiverton, Ann GOVIER, in the Parish Church of that town in 1821. When I eventually found out that he was a framesmith and that hundreds of people moved from Leicestershire to Tiverton following the relocation of John Heathcoat's lace factory from the former place to the latter, a light bulb went on in my head ! Hope this helps, Best wishes, Mike Gould Leicestershire -----Original Message----- From: devon-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:devon-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Blaine Sanders Sent: 23 December 2013 21:43 To: devon@rootsweb.com Subject: [DEV] Finding Corroborating Evidence... I am quite new to genealogical research in England. I have learned a whole lot from posting to and lurking on this list, as well as by getting my hands dirty in the parish registers. I have been trying hard to piece together some families in my ancestry, and am finding that it is quite rare to be able to find enough information in the registers alone to be sure of family structure. My ancestors came primarily from rural areas (Brixton, Plympton, Plymstock), small parishes mostly, which makes things easier in some ways, but harder in others. I've noticed that for the most part, the small parishes are often neglected. One registry in particular that I have ancestors in has never been indexed, as far as I can tell. I have searched all the freely accessible indexes for wills that I can find, and have come up empty. >From what I can tell, it seems like a much larger range of documents, such as wills, court records, etc are available for searching... IF you live in Devon. Many on this list seem to be very skilled at researching and finding these other types of documents. My questions for the group are: 1. Which kinds of documents, or combination of documents (pre-1800's) tend to be the most valuable in terms of the amount and kind of information that would allow one to conclusively link a child to siblings and/or parents? 2. Are there any paid sites that would have wills, court documents, marriage certificates, settlement certificates, etc, available for searching? Specifically, I'm looking for these types of documents for the areas of Brixton, Plympton, Plymstock, and surrounding areas, for years 1600 - 1800. 3. If these kind of records are not available on any paid sites, what other means are there for obtaining these documents, assuming one does not have a bunch of money to pay a researcher in the DRO? Many Thanks, Blaine ------------------------------------------ The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon ( http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ ) and the Devon FHS (http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) List archive for Devon can be found at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DEVON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi,. just to throw my pennyworth in to this discussion, there is no simple answer to the finding of the ancestors.. It depends on the ancestors. Some were wealthy and will leave a good paper trail of wills, land transactions etc, some were middling and will some some traces, and some were at the bottom of the pile and leave almost no trace except that of their bapts marriages and burials and often their misdemeanours . However they did all travel for work , and the lure of a big town, market town close to their village will have encouraged them to move around . Devon`s major problem is the loss of the wills . But that aside everything else is available , and thanks to Brian Randell there are great many resources on genuki/devon including online parish clerks, transcriptions and links to other useful sites .. So if for instance you were to go to Parkham of which I am OPC , you would find my email address and I would be able to search the parish registers and other records for you . There is also a note about the dates of the parish registers and where they are available , for instance Parkham is also on IGI except the burials. The genuki page on Brixton for instance , says that it is 4 1/2 miles east of Plymouth , so you would need to add Plymouth to your list of possible parishes in which your ancestors might have lived and worked. The parish registers are not entered into IGI but DFHS has compiled a cd of bmb in the Deanery of Plympton which includes Brixton , Plympton and Plymstock , the marriages start in 1754. bapts and burials in 1813. The Devon Record Office has now got most of its records catalogued on the National Archives site A2A, and that is also worth searching . Go to www.nationalarchives/access to archives . And if you think its worth it go on to National Archives/Discovery which leads you to the main catalogue . . Devon Heritage Service , aka Devon Record Office, also has an online catalogue . So start with the above and in particular after Christmas do a DFHS surname search and buy the printout of all the marriages 1754- bapts and burials 1813- for the surnames you are interested in . life is hard . soften it with a cat \\\=^..^=/// ----- Original Message ----- From: "Blaine Sanders" <utvairs@yahoo.com> To: <devon@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, December 23, 2013 9:43 PM Subject: [DEV] Finding Corroborating Evidence... >I am quite new to genealogical research in England. I have learned a whole >lot from posting to and lurking on this list, as well as by getting my >hands dirty in the parish registers. I have been trying hard to piece >together some families in my ancestry, and am finding that it is quite rare >to be able to find enough information in the registers alone to be sure of >family structure. > > My ancestors came primarily from rural areas (Brixton, Plympton, > Plymstock), small parishes mostly, which makes things easier in some ways, > but harder in others. I've noticed that for the most part, the small > parishes are often neglected. One registry in particular that I have > ancestors in has never been indexed, as far as I can tell. I have searched > all the freely accessible indexes for wills that I can find, and have come > up empty. > >>From what I can tell, it seems like a much larger range of documents, such >>as wills, court records, etc are available for searching... IF you live in >>Devon. > > Many on this list seem to be very skilled at researching and finding these > other types of documents. My questions for the group are: > > 1. Which kinds of documents, or combination of documents (pre-1800's) tend > to be the most valuable in terms of the amount and kind of information > that would allow one to conclusively link a child to siblings and/or > parents? > > 2. Are there any paid sites that would have wills, court documents, > marriage certificates, settlement certificates, etc, available for > searching? Specifically, I'm looking for these types of documents for the > areas of Brixton, Plympton, Plymstock, and surrounding areas, for years > 1600 - 1800. > > 3. If these kind of records are not available on any paid sites, what > other means are there for obtaining these documents, assuming one does not > have a bunch of money to pay a researcher in the DRO? > > Many Thanks, > Blaine > ------------------------------------------ > The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon > ( http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ ) > and > the Devon FHS (http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) > List archive for Devon can be found at > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > DEVON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >