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Thread: Paid research

  1. #1
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    Default Paid research

    I am trying to be careful how I word this, who is likely to have the most records Cornwall county council or
    Cornwall FHS as their charges per hour vary by about 65%

  2. #2
    Super Moderator - Completely bonkers and will never change.
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    The county council will have the most records. They will have everything. FHSs don't usually have any original documents.
    Depending on the FHS, they will buy copies of the PRs and then transcribe from them/allow members to borrow them.

    Depends exactly what you want as to which body will be the best for you. Do you want copies of PR entries? Do you just want someone to search a particular PR? If you tell us precisely what you want we'll be better able to advise you.

    Pam
    Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

  3. #3
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    I am still trying to find parents & siblings of Thomas Bray as posted in brick walls recently I have subscriptions to Ancestry FMP and The Genealogist but can not find the proof I want. The 1 possibility I have is Thomas son of Thomas & Ann nee Chegwidden born 1808 Gwenapp

  4. #4
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    Use all the online resources you can to first of all to eliminate unnecessary searches having to be made by a third party. (Cuts down paid research costs.)

    Truro, Thomas' stated place of birth in the 1881 census, is about 6 miles as the crow flies from Gwennap.
    I would first of all draw a circle based on either Truro or Gwennap with a radius of 5 or 6 miles, however many it takes to include the other place. Note all the villages in that radius, and then check the Cornwall Online Parish Clerks database to see which of those parishes have been indexed. (I presume you've already checked the database for Thomas Brays. https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/home/ )

    Cornwall FHS (not the same as Cornwall OPC) have a very helpful database themselves - check out the 'locations index' in the top banner
    This is the link for Gwennap. https://www.cornwallfhs.com/locations_index2.php
    As you can see there are quite a few non-conformist chapels/churches with no indexing. Those are the sort of places you need to ask to be checked. (Some non-conformists chapels have been transcribed on the OPC site. You can check for coverage.)

    Did Thomas and Ann in Gwennap have any children 1813 onwards? New-style baptism registers which recorded the father's occupation came into being in 1813. Sons often followed their fathers into the same occupation. So is Thomas senior to be found as a carpenter, either in a parish register or a census?
    Are there any other Brays (possibly siblings, cousins, uncles, etc) who are carpenters, and if so , can you find where they were born/lived?

    I would then possibly extend the circle to ten miles, and again note which places in the circle have been indexed and which haven't.

    Some parish registers which haven't been indexed might be found on FamilySearch. You can search the index or else scroll down the page a little and select 'browse the images' which takes you to a link for the actual PRs. Online images may not have been indexed.
    https://familysearch.org/search/coll...meFilter=false

    If Cornwall FHS seem to indicate that they have transcribed records for parishes not covered by Cornwall OPC or FamilySearch it might be worth joining the society for a year so you can search their members area. You might even find another member researching the same family.

    It's laborious, boring, monotonous, work but it's the only way to find as many probables, and then hopeful be able to eliminate some of them (don't forget when finding a Thomas baptism you also need to check for deaths starting immediately after the baptism).

    I hope I've explained everything sensibly. If not, yell, and I'll try again.

    Pam
    Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

  5. #5
    Knowledgeable and helpful warncoort's Avatar
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    This program is free and will help your search.
    https://www.parloc.co.uk/parish-locator.html

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    After your last reply I tried again and this is where I am at, I found a possible sibling of Thomas, William born 3 years later 1811.
    I checked Thomas's daughter Emma reg birth St Austell,later census says place of birth St Blazey in the Austell reg dist. 1841 census shows William with his family living in St Blazey, so perhaps this is where Emma was born. All possible relatives of Thomas I have found are miners, after Thomas there are several carpenters.

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