The success of Devon FHS’s project work is due entirely to the efforts of our volunteers, in Devon, the UK and worldwide. Work is done at home, at Tree House, at the three Devon Record Offices or at the National Archives, Kew, London. If you would like to help, email volunteers@devonfhs.org.uk or write to Volunteers, Devon FHS, PO Box 9, Exeter, Devon EX2 6YP

Recent changes are displayed in orange

• Devon Baptisms 1813-1839 volunteers needed at Record Offices
  Completed: Baptisms for 363085 events have been transcribed for 465 parishes.
  Ongoing: Work is continuing from parish registers held in the Devon Record Offices, also from fiche and digital images. Some registers are still held by the incumbents in the churches, so cannot be transcribed until deposited. Access to registers held in parish churches
• Devon Burials 1813-1837
  Completed: Burials for 223597 events have been transcribed from 487 registers held in the Devon Record Offices. A few are non-conformist registers.
  Ongoing: Work will continue when the remaining registers for the period are deposited in the Devon Record Office
  Some registers are lost,some are still held by the incumbents in their churches, so cannot be transcribed until deposited. Access to registers held in parish churches
• Devon Census 1861
  Completed: 1861 - 534753 entries from 131 registration district pieces
  Ongoing: Work is continuing on the remaining 16 pieces.
  A "Partnership" project: Jointly organised by Devon FHS and FreeCEN. The completed transcriptions will be put into the FreeCen database for free access on the internet and also published by Devon FHS.
• Small Projects
  Completed: 129 booklets
  CD, "Rich man, poor man, beggar-man, thief" containing over 63,000 entries from 129 books
  Ongoing: Work is continuing using original documents at DRO, NDRO, and PWDO. These “Partnership Projects” are jointly organized by Devon FHS and the three county record offices. Unusual records of interest to family historians are transcribed or indexed. Completed transcriptions are published in booklet form or as surname printouts from our Society indexes.
• Monumental Inscriptions
  Ongoing: Monumental Inscriptions from many graveyards in Devon, this index shows the last name, first name, inscription, notes, age, date died, date born, place buried, type, grave reference, and others remembered on the stone. Current results are freely available to Devon FHS members on the Surnames page.
• Devon Wills Project
  The vast majority of original pre-1858 Devon wills were destroyed when the Exeter Probate Registry was bombed during the Blitz of 1942.
  The aim of the Devon Wills Project (DWP), a co-operation involving the Devon Family History Society, the Devon Record Office, GENUKI/Devon, and the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, is to provide a finding aid for Devon wills, administrations and inventories, covering (and distinguishing between) original documents, probate copies, transcripts and abstracts.
  DWP involves systematically transcribing information obtained from various “sources”, i.e. indexes, calendars, catalogues, books, journal articles, websites, etc., from a large number of locations both within and beyond Devon in order to produce a single large consolidated index.
  The ultimate aim of DWP is to include information taken from all existing published or publicly available sources of information about pre-1858 Devon wills. Since its official launch, DWP has gathered and made available online just over 80,000 catalogue entries, obtained from over 250 different sources.
  Volunteers involved in DWP are undertaking such tasks as photographing documents at archives, locating obscure published books and journals containing will transcripts, performing searches of various archive catalogues (both card catalogues and online catalogues), transcribing from microfilm or scanned images, checking transcriptions, etc. As the Project has been able to negotiate access to more and more sources, so more and more volunteers are needed - either for tasks that can be performed at home, or those requiring visits to particular archives and libraries.
  The Devon Wills Project guidelines and searchable index may be found at: http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/DevonWillsProject
  To volunteer please contact Richard Grylls richard.grylls@btinternet.com
  For a full report see The Devon Wills Project (Progress Report - 1 January 2010)
• Greycoat School (Plymouth)
  Ongoing: Work is continuing from digital images. Founded in 1714, closed in 1972, Greycoat School applications and admissions are being transcribed. Original registers are held in Plymouth & West Devon Record Office.
• Deanery CDs
  In 2010: Torrington, Moreton and Okehampton
  Ongoing: CDs are published as soon as all parish events within the date range are completed for that Deanery. Deaneries are based on the lists in "The Guide to the Parish and Non-Parochial Registers of Devon and Cornwall, 1538-1837" by Hugh Peskett (Devon and Cornwall Record Society 1979)
• Plymouth Baptisms post 1837
  Ongoing: Work is continuing from original registers held in the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office.
  A "Partnership" project with P&WDRO. Surname indexes of persons baptised will be available on CDs and from our Society’s indexes.
• Devon Masters and Mates
  Ongoing: Information has been transcribed from BT127 series at the National Archives. A CD is planned, which will list officers’ names, year and place of birth, and certificate numbers.
• Plymouth Cemeteries Project
  In conjunction with the Cornwall FHS and Plymouth City Council, we in Devon Family History Society are undertaking a project to transcribe the burial records for the Plymouth cemeteries at Weston Mill and Efford. At present we are working on Weston Mill cemetery records.
  The work is straightforward. The burial records are being scanned and each year copied to a CD. The CD is then sent to a volunteer who transcribes to a spreadsheet in a set format.
  We do have a number of volunteers, but would be pleased to have more available, when more years have been scanned and are ready for transcription.
  If you are interested in volunteering or would like to find out more about what is required, please contact the project co-ordinator:
  Raymond Blight, email
  The only restriction is that the volunteers have to be based in the UK.
  N.B. We are unable to answer any queries on cemetery burials, the project is still in its infancy!
• More Facsimile Book CDs
  Ongoing: More books will be converted to .pdf and sold as CDs. Watch the Book Shop page.

• Ford Park Cemetery Burials, Plymouth
  Coverage:
  General Ground 1848-1880
  Church Ground 1849-1880
  Catholic Ground 1881-1924
  Total number of entries 63,469
  A “Partnership” project with Ford Park Cemetery Trust
• Members’ Interests
  Current Members’ Interests may now be added on the Members’ Area http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/members-area.htm
• Devon Marriages 1754-1812
  Information is available in parish booklet form or as a surname printout from our Society indexes for 175426 events in 480 parishes. These have been transcribed from all parish registers deposited in the Devon Record Offices.
• Devon Marriages 1813-1837
  Information is available in parish booklet form or as a surname printout from our Society indexes for 95321 events in 480 parishes. These have been transcribed from all parish registers deposited in the Devon Record Offices.
• Plymouth Marriages volume 1
  109656 marriages.
• Plymouth Marriages volume 2
  40756 marriages.
  
  "Partnership" projects with Plymouth & West Devon Record Office.
  Information is available on CD or as a surname printout from Society indexes. Events have been transcribed from all post 1837 marriage registers deposited in the Devon Record Offices.
• Devon Extracts from London Gazette
  366 pages with index and images.
• Teignmouth Cemetery Burials
  A collection of over 12,300 records extracted from the Cemetery Registers.
• Deanery CDs
  Deaneries of Tamerton, Three Towns, Barnstaple, Woodleigh, Plympton, Tavistock, Dunkeswell, Christianity (Exeter), Totnes, Hartland, Dunsford and Plymtree
• Plymouth Baptisms post-1837
  First baptism CD available for the Plymouth area
• Devon Strays
  This index has details of Devon-born people found elsewhere, taken from many sources, including baptism, marriage, death and burial records, census, poor law and monumental inscriptions. Results are freely available to Devon FHS members on the Surnames page
  We are now able to accept strays from people who wish to send them to us for inclusion on the website. Please contact
• Wesleyan Methodist Historic Roll
  Transcriptions from volumes 12, 13 and 14 of the Wesleyan Methodist 20th Century Fund 1899 - 1904, covering circuits in Devon, Cornwall, Channel Islands and parts of Somerset and Dorset. This CD contains names, addresses and the chapels attended by over 24,000 people who donated a guinea to the Fund, with some donations given on behalf of people living outside the area and also in memory of named persons.
• Devon Coastguards
  This index has details of coastguards and their families who were born or served in Devon. Details were taken from The National Archives records and the census 1841-1891. In most cases, each entry includes the coastguard’s service number.
• Facsimile Book CDs
  Facsimiles of original Devon books are available to purchase in the bookshop.

• Miscellaneous indexes
  Location- Tree House Exeter
• Torquay Cemetery Burials
  Future Location - Devon Record Office on film
• And send your suggestions............... to
  If you suggest a project, please send us some of your preliminary research to ascertain location, format and availability of records. Your offer to co-ordinate or volunteer to help with your suggested project would be appreciated.