cornwall ancestors - where to start?

[alivicwil2]

Hi,
I've been researching my Scottish ancestry for a while, using sites such as scotlandspeople with much success.
In the last week, I've discovered that I have Cornish ancestors, on the other side.

Can anyone recommend how I can go about tracing these Cornish ancestors?  I have some names, dates and places, but would like to access some records (census, birth, death, marriage, parish etc) to view, and to flesh out the tree.

I'm tracing the Williams name, so I imagine there will be many duplicate records. Are there any tips on how to ensure I have the right person, before I pay for records?  The Scottish name I have been researching is relatively uncommon, which has made it easy to isolate.

Thanks in advance.

I apologise if this is not the place for this post, or if my questions have already been answered.  (I have looked, but have quite possibly missed something - I have the flu right now, so am not really at my best!)

[CatOne]

If you post the info you have, then people can do lookups or recommend the best places to look for you

Regards,
Catherine 

[Arranroots]

Hi Alivicwil2!

I think Cornwall must be one of the better recorded counties as far as the internet is concerned - it also has a fantastic Moderator (eh, Kris??)

Try starting by reading any links posted on the Cornwall board.  Also Genuki

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/

Your search engine may turn up all sorts of goodies if you know what area you are looking in.

As Cat says, if you have specific people you need assistance with, there are lots of us with resources to help.  Post them on Corwall Look-Up Requests board.

 If you want to research yourself (much more fun!), you will need to use freebmd or a pay-per-view site such as 1837online for the major life events.  Census info can be purchased on CD or online from various suppliers.

You may find that English certificates are a bit disappointing after Scottish ones - not nearly as much info!

Here are some examples:

http://www.jaydax.co.uk/genlinks/certificates.html

Best wishes & get well soon

Arranroots 

[jorose]

Argh, I have Williams in Cornwall (St. Gluvias), and they're really quite tricky.

I'd recommend www.familyhistoryonline.net - it's not just Cornish records, but there's quite a bit of Cornish records on there, especially burial records/monumental inscriptions.  Sometimes the only way to tell between possible ancestors is to check through who died young (or hope they had unusual  first names!).  Also burial records/MIs sometimes list ages which are a big help.

[tab]

Hi, lots of parishes have their own Websites. The best sites I have found for Cornwall are 1 Conwall online parish clerks at http:www.cornwall.opc.org
2 West penwith resources for anything in West Cornwall
3 Cornwall online census project
4 My tree.com for 1871 census Cornwall
all these sites are FREE

[RedFox]

Hi, alivicwil2 - another area to check is your local library.  I had ancestry.com, but found that many local libraries have it, so when I let my lapse, I still have the resource.  I found Family History Online, mentioned by jorose, very helpful.    It depends on where in Cornwall your people are from, but mine were from the Linkinhorne area, up by Liskeard.  In my case, Lynher Parish has many baptisms, marriages, and deaths recorded before 1837 which I found very helpful.  Best wishes.   One of your best resources is the many knowledgeable people on RootsChat who are very helpful. 

RedFox