The Devon Family History Society exists to provide a focus for individuals working in the field of genealogy. Their quarterly journal The Devon Family Historian gives current details of membership and officers and can be inspected in local studies libraries. The Society also runs the Tree House in Exeter and maintains a register of members' interests. Attention is also drawn to the collections of the Devon and Cornwall Record Society, consisting largely of transcripts of parish registers and other genealogical sources, deposited in the Westcountry Studies Library for the use of the Society's members. A handlist of the collections is on the web and full or temporary membership can be taken out in the Westcountry Studies Library. See section 1.3 of Local studies in Devon: a guide to resources for details of genealogical collections.

Much genealogical material in the Westcountry Studies Library is only available on microform. Readers are strongly advised to book reading equipment in advance.

1. Indexes to existing research. To avoid wasteful duplication of research check indexes to printed pedigrees and family histories. Three of the most exhaustive printed listings are: The genealogist's guide by George W.Marshall (Billing, 1893), A genealogical guide by J.B.Whitmore Walford, 1953), The genealogist's guide by G.B.Barrow (Research Publishing, 1977). Libraries hold many studies of individual families and individual biographies and biographical dictionaries, normally listed at the Dewey number 929.2. The Burnet Morris Index of Devon persons, places and subjects, housed in the Westcountry Studies Library has a very full listing of family names to 1940. A leaflet guide to this complex index is available. There are also extensive family cuttings files in the Westcountry Studies Library. Devon: a genealogical bibliography by Stuart A.Raymond lists sources on a wide range of topics with a listing of family histories in the second volume. There are similar volumes by the same author for Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset.

Many of the references in these sources will be to material held in general reference collections which have extensive collections of biographical material, including The Dictionary of National Biography, The Complete Peerage by G.E.Cockayne and runs of such sources as Burke's and Debrett's peerages, Burke's Landed Gentry, The Gentleman's Magazine and the publications of the Harleian Society and the Public Record Office, all containing much local information.

2 Sources for genealogical research. If no previous research has been traced you are advised to check the following sources, all of which indicate family relationships:

(a) Civil registration records. These are available for England and Wales back to 1837 at the Family Records Centre in London, with local registrations held at district offices throughout the country. It is important to check these records first because of their completeness and the fact that they normally suggest a place of residence in the period 1841-91 which can then be checked on the census enumerators' returns. Indexes to births, marriages and deaths covering the whole country from 1837 are available by appointment in the Devon Family History Society's Tree House in Exeter (1837-1951), the North Devon Athenaeum at Barnstaple (1837-1983) and the Plymouth Chapel of the Mormon Church.

(b) Census enumerators' returns. Microfilms are available in the Westcountry Studies Library and for the whole registration county of Devon for 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881 and (on fiche) 1891 and in larger libraries for their area of the county. An index to parishes has been compiled by staff and surname indexes for the 1851 census have been compiled by the Devon Family History Society. A name index for the whole of Devon is available on microfiche for the 1881 census and street indexes are available for some larger towns. From 1851 the place of birth is given, indicating which church registers should be searched. Devon's local studies website has further details on censuses.

(c) Church registers. Transcripts of parish and non-parochial registers are held in the Westcountry Studies Library and other large libraries in Devon. Click here for fuller details. The main local guide is by Anthony Wilcox: National index of parish registers, vol. 8, part 5: Devon (1999). Also of use but outdated is Guide to the Parish and Non-parochial Registers of Devon and Cornwall, 1538-1837 by H.Peskett as the Record Office holdings are now much more comprehensive (refer to their handlist or their parish register web page). Larger libraries have the Mormons' International Genealogical Index for Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset with details of 3,500,000 baptisms and marriages indexed for some 500 parishes in the region, mainly for the period 1538-1837. The IGI for the British Isles is held in the main reference libraries in Devon. Monumental inscriptions are also available but there is no extensive coverage for Devon although the Devon Family History Society are publishing transcripts.

(d) Wills. Most Devon wills were destroyed during World War 2. The Devon Record Office has an index to surviving copy wills and the estate duty will transcripts for the period 1811-1857. Indexes and calendars of many wills have been published. The typescript abstracts of Devon wills made by Sir Oswyn Murray and O.Moger before World War 2 are held in the Westcountry Studies Library. Probate inventories have been published by the Devon and Cornwall Record Society: Devon inventories of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, edited by Margaret Cash (1966) and Uffculme wills and inventories: 16th to 18th centuries, edited by Peter Wyatt (1997).

(e) Inquisitions post mortem. These are a major source for the period before parish registers begin. About 3,000 for the Westcountry from the 13th to the 17th centuries have been calendared in typescript and held in WSL.

(f) Visitation pedigrees. These are held in the major libraries. They are normally entered in catalogues under the heading College of Arms.

3. Major inhabitant lists. These do not normally include details of family relationships. Lists of inhabitants have been compiled for many purposes, mainly connected with the raising of money, and are of considerable value to the demographer, genealogist and social historian. Because of the varying circumstances of their compilation their comprehensiveness varies. The user should ask: Why were they compiled? Who was listed? Who was omitted? How reliable are they? A good listing of transcripts and other items about inhabitant lists is chapter 10: official lists of names in Raymond, Stuart A. Devon: a genealogical bibliography vol 1. (1990). The list below is arranged in rough chronological order.

1086 Domesday book. A basic source but this unique survey of land tenure contains very few individual names. The most generally available modern edition is: Domesday book, 9: Devon, edited by C. & F.Thorn (1985). See 3.351.

1234-42 Testa de Nevill. One of the earliest available tax lists, a country-wide survey of landowners. The Devon section is transcribed in: Devonshire Association Transactions 30 (1898), p.203-37.

1290-1334 Lay subsidies. The fullest of these for Devon is The Devonshire lay subsidy of 1332, edited by A.M.Erskine (1969)

1377-1381 Poll taxes. A valuable source for the student of medieval population but no "particular accounts" for 1377, giving the the names of those assessed, appears to survive for Devon.

1520-1650 Muster rolls. Lists of persons liable to serve in the armed forces. Among the best for Devon is The Devon muster roll for 1569, edited by T.L.Stoate (1977)

1524-1525 Great subsidy. The most significant of the later lay subsidies, published for Devon in Devon lay subsidy rolls, 1524-7, edited by T.L.Stoate (1979). Later tax assessments including the 1581 subsidy, assessments of 1642, 1647 and 1660 and the poll tax of 1660 are transcribed in Devon taxes, 1581-1660, edited by T.L.Stoate (1988). Those for Exeter are included with similar assessments and listings in Tudor Exeter: tax assessments 1489-1595, edited by Margery Rowe for the Devon and Cornwall Record Society (1977).

1538-1837 Parish registers. These were initiated by an order of Thomas Cromwell and provide registers of baptisms, marriages and burials in each parish. Click here for fuller details. Various guides to local history and demography indicate the demographic uses to which parish registers can be put. The month of baptism enables seasonality to be established although baptisms are not the same as births and were often delayed by bad weather or religious festivals. From 1754 when partners had to sign, crude literacy rates can be established. Comparing marriage dates with dates of first baptism, pre-nuptial conception rates can be arrived at. Burial registers can also be used to plot seasonality, and for evidence of epidemics.

16th-19th century Parish rates. A number of parish rates have been transcribed in typescript by C.A.Fursdon. The original set is in WSL with printouts in the parish files available in local branch libraries and schools. Original parish rates are held in DRO. See section 3.312.

1641-1642 Protestation returns. All adult male subjects were required to swear an oath of allegiance to the crown. The result is one of the fullest inhabitant lists before the 19th century census returns. The Devon returns are transcribed as: The Devon protestation returns , 1641, edited by A.J.Howard (1973). A cross thus + indicates those who signed with a cross where original returns survive. This provides rare early evidence of the extent of literacy.

1641-1677 Poll tax. The Devon poll tax for 1660 and various earlier assessments for Devon are included in Devon taxes, 1581-1660, edited by T.L.Stoate (1988).
Exeter taxes for the same period are covered in Exeter in the seventeeth century: tax and rate assessments 1602-1699, edited by W.G.Hoskins for the Devon and Cornwall Record Society (1957).

1662-1689 Hearth tax. Devon hearth tax return, Lady Day 1674, edited by T.L.Stoate (1982). These returns give little detail but provide some indication of relative wealth as the number of hearths in each household are given.

1692-19th cent Land tax. A good set for Devon survives in the DRO for the period 1780-1832. DRO have produced a guide to this class of records.3.348 Land tax. This was instituted by an Act of 1693 and the assessments give the name and status of the landowner, but not his occupation, the name of the occupier, the name and brief description of the property, amount assessed. Assessments may be quarterly, half yearly or yearly and normally survive in Devon only from 1780 onwards. The Devon Record Office publishes a guide to Land Tax Records and the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies is currently indexing them to put them on a CD-ROM. A set of the parishes covered is held in the Devon Record Office.

1696-1868 Poll books. Relatively few survive for Devon. Those that do are normally listed in the catalogues of the main local studies collections. A nation-wide guide to holdings is provided by Poll books c1696-1872 by Jeremy Gibson (3rd ed, Federation of Family History Societies, 1994)

1781-20th cent Trade directories. The web site has fuller details of trade directories. A list of holdings in the major Devon libraries is also available.

1832-date Electoral registers. The main set for the county is in the Devon Record Office who have microfilmed those for the period 1832-1900. Local studies collections have holdings which vary in coverage but are normally confined to the area of the county in which they are located. There are few for the period before World War 2 and there are some restrictions on access to more recent registers.

1841-1891 Census returns. The web site has fuller details census returns.

c1763 to date Newspapers. The web site has fuller details on newspapers as an historical source. A listing of newspaper titles with library holdings is also available.

Further information on individuals can be found in a variety of sources depending on the period, field of activity or place of residence. Parish or town histories, histories of houses on books on particular industries may all contain information. Other Devon webpages may help, as will Devon: a genealogical bibliography by S.A.Raymond.

4. Further reading:
Hey, D. Family history and local history in England. (Longman, 1987).
Pelling, G. Beginning your family history. 4th ed. (Countryside Books, 1987).