Ertach Kernow - Family history research through Cornish books
Cornwall Family History Society along with other online baptism, marriage and burial databases are a great resource and of interest to those researching their family histories. With so many online sources of information compared to what was available in pre-internet times the growth in family history research is available to far more people. Genealogy is not a new interest it was something that our Victorian ancestors were very much involved with during the later 19th century.
Here in Cornwall the records which are available from ecclesiastical sources are a mixed bag. Personally I’m very thankful that those relating to St Columb Minor are pretty good. Much depended on the clergy overseeing the completion of the records, sadly some are not so good due to absentee vicars or even drunken curates, many have been destroyed or lost. The early days of family history research was through scouring the parish church records by hand and the Prerogative Court of Canterbury record of wills.
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The Tudor period was definitely not a good time for Cornwall leading to rebellions and acts of retribution against the Cornish by the Crown and its government. However, from a family history research aspect there was a positive outcome. Many people will have become acquainted with Thomas Cromwell either through their own history education, seemingly a favourite topic of school curriculum, or via the popular BBC series Wolf Hall. Thomas Cromwell was the Vicar General, amongst several other roles, to King Henry VIII. In 1538 he ordered the creation of what would become parish registers recording baptisms, marriages and burials. Now when governments especially those from an earlier age start recording the activities of the general population it’s done for a reason to benefit them. The Domesday Books now such a useful and interesting part of research was created by William I for taxation purposes. Cromwell’s orders for the creation of parish records included the means to identify Anabaptists. This was a non-conformist Christian belief in not baptising infants, as they could not make a conscious decision to be baptised, central to the beliefs of Anabaptists followers. These surviving records are now central to the genealogist research as they move further back in time.
Originally recorded on loose leaf paper and stored in the parish chest it was Queen Elizabeth who in 1598 ordered that they be transcribed into parchment books. Later developments led to standardisation of entries through the Clandestine Marriages Act 1753 and The Parish Register Act of 1812 making later research far easier. Later information from census returns were gradually improved from the limited 1801 to 1831, recording just figures, to 1841 when names were included. More recently the latest census of 1921 has now become available on far more research sites at no additional cost, and the last one to be published until 2051. These later census and the 1939 England and Wales Register have advanced the opportunities to add to social history of our ancestors.
Of course many people in their family history research look to go back as far as possible often hoping to prove a link to a famous person, nobility or even royalty. Here in Cornwall that is slightly less likely due to its remoteness, although with the right connections and surviving documents it’s possible. Royal connections given the number of children, both legitimate and especially illegitimate of English and British monarchs, especially Henry I with twenty-five base children increases the possibilities of virtually everyone having those genealogical links. Also very productive with illegitimate children was Charles II with fourteen and William IV with ten. David Cameron a recent UK Prime Minister descends from an illegitimate child of William IV. Boris Johnson comes from legitimate descent of George II through Frederick Louis Hanover, Prince of Wales who died before his father and never succeeded to the throne. Ironically Henry I, Charles II and William IV had no legitimate male heirs to succeed to the throne.
Numerous opportunities exist to help researchers here in Cornwall such as the visitations, family trees to prove lineage. Social climbers are not anything new and there was a period especially during the 14th to 17th century where families in an attempt to enhance their social standing created their own coats of arms. This was deeply frowned upon by the authorities leading to heralds being sent by the crown to force families to prove their right to have and use a coat of arms. Where this was proved to be false the family were disclaimed. The head of the family had to sign a disclaimer not to use the coat of arms. Their existing armorial monuments were as stated in the original warrant dated 6 April 1530 and issued by Henry VIII to Thomas Benolt, Clarenceux King of Arms, ‘to put down or otherwise deface at his discretion ... those arms unlawfully used’. Cornwall had three visitations in 1530, 1573 and 1620 the first by Thomas Benolt himself.
Surprise, surprise things were somewhat different here in Cornwall. There is a good chance that especially in the earlier visitations that Benolt and the later 1573 herald Robert Cooke may have been bamboozled by the Cornish, given Kernewek was in widespread use in those days. Cornwall did not follow the normal English tradition of primogeniture with an estate passing down to the eldest son. Estates were more often broken up and shared amongst sons, and if no sons then daughters. This gave rise to many great family estates where an heiress married into another family with an estate leading to large landholdings. The coat of arms from the heiress’ family would often be included within the existing armorial shield of her husband's family. Richard Carew of Antony wrote in his survey of Cornwall in 1602; ‘The Cornish appear to change and diversify their arms at pleasure...The most Cornish gentlemen can better vaunt of their pedigree than their livelihood for that they derive from great antiquity, and I make question whether any shire in England of but equal quantitie can muster a like number of faire coate-armours.’ No doubt the addition of ever-increasing heraldic devices to the families armorial shield complicated matters for the heralds. The complex ancestral tree of the Carew-Pole family of Antony attests to this with the baronetcy passing within branches of the wider family and currently held by the 14th Baronet, Sir Tremayne John Carew Pole. The existing line traces itself back through to the 3rd Baronet Sir John Carew, who was in turn a great grandson of the antiquarian and much quoted Richard Carew of Antony.
Besides the visitations there are also books written by antiquarians and writers who copied the text from countless church memorials, many of which are now sadly lost. Cornish 18th and 19th century histories include large amounts of family histories in their chapters about the parishes in which wealthy families lived. Arthur Jewers in his volume ‘Heraldic Church Notes from Cornwall’ uses heraldic devices and monuments from ten parish churches from east Cornwall. This includes some extensive work relating to the Carew family. The earliest sepulchral record in the church at East Antony is the brass plate monument of Margaret Arundel which had included the arms of Arundell of Tolveme and Erchedeken from Ruan Lanhorne in south Cornwall. Reverend’s William Borlase and John Whitaker, Davies Gilbert, Joseph Polsue and Charles Sandoe Gilbert also included large amounts of genealogical information. Sir John Maclean’s multiple volumes ‘The Parochial and Family History of the deanery of Trigg Minor’ is another Cornish family history research opportunity beyond the online databases. The Green Book of St. Columb provides not just names but also glimpses of ordinary life in 16th century Cornwall from 1585 onwards. A series of books compiles by T L Stoate can prove useful but can also be confusing as the use of baptismal forenames was nowhere near as wide as they are now. William for example was one of the most popular names for centuries.
DNA resources now prove that virtually everyone has some genetic input from elsewhere other than Cornwall within their ancestral history. For Cornish folk tracing their family histories across the border into England as well as English families more recently new to Cornwall there are huge amounts of books providing information not necessarily within databases. All the English counties will have had a visitation with lots of family pedigrees listed in volumes depending on number of heraldic visits. There will be older 18th and 19th century histories, as with Cornwall, and these will provide many names. For those living in northeast Cornwall the work of Richard Pearse Chope, including his book The Book of Hartland has been personally most useful as was the Rev John Prince’s ‘Danmonii Orientales Illustres: or the Worthies of Devon’. Very surprisingly it was John Strype’s updated version of John Stow’s ‘A survey of the cities of London and Westminster’ published in 1720 that broke through a wall in my family history research. Mention of a handsome small monument at St Clement Dane Church had this Inscription, ‘Anne, the Daughter of Francis Cary, Wife of Hugh Prust of Devon, seventeen Years, aged forty, having by him nine Children, was buried here the 13 of February, 1627.’
So for those already on their family history journey hopefully these few tips may assist you further. For those thinking about doing your own the resources available have never been better, including DNA. Although it may still involve a trip to a record office, church and churchyard or elsewhere, much can be accomplished from your own computer. I always advise family historians to never ever copy another person’s tree, I’ve seen many disastrous failures through not carrying out diligent personal research.
Enquiries about potential workshops to my email at associationcornishheritage@gmail.com
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