September 8th, 2009
TRURO — Today was spent in the Cornwall Record Office browsing through microfiche after microfiche of parish registers looking for elusive ancestors. A good place to be because the weather was lousy—a grey, misty, wet day. The weather forecast looks better for the next week though; some sun is expected.
Most online genealogy sources seem to concentrate on providing access to baptisms and marriages. Burials are often overlooked, so I lthought I’d start by looking through the burial registers of a few parishes and and managed to transcribe quite a few entries. The handwriting of the various rectors, vicars and curates could be difficult to decipher at times. I really appreciated those who wrote with a firm, legible hand. Some were just diabolical to read, especially those who wrote so lightly that it hardly looked like there was an entry at all. Then there are those at the other extreme who penned so thickly that individual letters merged into one another and disappeared into a blob of ink. With limited time I just had to move on and hope the person didn’t belong in my tree.
Tomorrow I’ll start looking at some wills (all available on microfiche) as I’ve identified a few using the Cornwall Record Office’s online catalogue that will hopefully prove to be enlightening.
Morning Russell,
I guess if the handwriting is too illegible you can just take digital photos (a la Bagnall here)? At least that way you could pore over it at your leisure once you’re home.
Or, don’t they let you do that?
Hope you’re havin’ fun …
They do allow you to do that, but not from the original. Instead you’d be photographing the microfiche reader’s screen. It would be better than nothing though.