Diocese of Plymouth joins Findmypast’s exclusive Catholic Heritage Archive

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

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: