Devon County Council

Find My Past

Find My Past can be accessed free of charge at the following places in Devon:

Devon Family History Society indexes to Church of England parish registers of baptism (1813-1837), marriage (1754-1837) and burial (1813-1837) are now available on Find My Past.   In addition, digitized images of original Devon parish registers of baptism, marriage and burial held at Plymouth and West Devon Record Office are gradually being made available online through the Find My Past website.   Eventually non-conformist registers and prison registers held at the same record office will be digitized and also become available on Find My Past.

• Devon Heritage Services – at Devon Record Office, Exeter
• Devon Heritage Services - at North Devon Record Office, Barnstaple
• Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, Plymouth
• Any  Plymouth Council library
• Devon Family History Society’s Tree House Research Centre in Exeter also offers access free of charge for members visiting the centre

Some other record offices, archives, local libraries and history centres in other counties, and overseas, may also offer free access to Find My Past.  

Available to subscribers at home; you must pay to use this site if you wish to use it at home.

Ancestry

AncestryLibrary Edition – the institutional version – can be accessed free of charge at the following places in Devon:

• Devon Heritage Services – at Devon Record Office, Exeter
• Devon Heritage Services - at North Devon Record Office, Barnstaple
• Any Devon public library – operated by Devon County Council – which has public Internet access
• Libraries operated by Torbay Council
• Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, Plymouth
• Any Plymouth Council library (note that Ancestry may not be available in Eggbuckland Library)
• Devon Family History Society’s Tree House Research Centre in Exeter also offers access free of charge for members visiting the centre

Many libraries, archives, history centres and Mormon Family History Research centres in other counties, and particularly overseas, also offer free access to AncestryLibrary Edition.

Available to subscribers at home – Ancestry.co.uk gives access to British genealogical records, and Ancestry.com gives access to US, Canadian, Australian and other overseas records as well.

Documents Online

This website allows you to search and download documents held by The National Archives that have been digitised, including PCC wills, registers of Royal Naval seamen, and war medal index cards.

It can can be accessed free of charge at

Devon Heritage Services – at Devon Record Office, Exeter

Devon Heritage Services – at North Devon Record Office, Barnstaple  

You can access this website at home as well.  Searching the indexes is free of charge.  However you must pay £3.50 per document, using a credit or debit card, to download documents from this site if you use it at home.

Genes Reunited

Genes Reunited is a family tree site useful for building your own family tree online, and tracing relatives, with links to British genealogical records (censuses, civil registration indexes etc) which can be used for research.    The site is available to subscribers for a small basic annual subscription fee, with additional payments if you wish to access genealogical records of the type found on Find My Past.

The Genealogist

The Genealogist is another British genealogical website, available through subscription.

Origins.net

The Origins website includes British and Irish genealogy records, including wills indexes.  It concentrates on older, sometimes unusual records, and is available through subscription.

Geni

Geni is a North American-based family tree site useful for building your own family tree online.  It enables you to share family photos, videos and historical records.  You are also able to invite your family to help grow your tree or collaborate with other genealogists online.   It is publicly accessible through various libraries in Canada and the United States.    Many of the profiles or trees that Geni users have created are connected together in Geni's World Family Tree, also referred to as the ‘Big Tree’ by many users. Many new Geni users aspire to build their family tree and find their connection to the ‘Big Tree’.