FamilySearch are continually adding parish registers to their published images collection and a recent delve into their Cornwall and Devon Parish Registers collection – containing 202,481 images at the time of writing – reminded me of the amazing free resource this site provides. You won’t find a marriage in 1950 in any of the available records, nor will you find a baptism in 1915, as privacy reasons restrict the dates to 1910 for baptisms and 1935 for marriages, though the date ranges vary by locality and availability.
There aren’t as many Sillifant (and variant) references in Cornwall and there are currently only two parishes included in Devon – St Giles on the Heath and Werrington. However, there are a few odd Sillifant/Silliphant ‘hits’ in the FamilySearch index in Phillack including a burial for George aged 17 in 1862 and a baptism for Emma in 1859. Whilst searching through the burial register, some gems popped out. Don’t you love records like this:
Clearly concerned that history was recorded appropriately, Frederick Hockin, Rector at Phillack, noted in detail the burials in his parish including one man who was found dead on Phillack Sands ‘much mutilated’, poor chap. Two children who died young were also buried in the parish in the early part of 1860 and Frederick’s sentiments about these individuals are clear. Thomas Blewett, the son of Thomas and Jane Blewett, was buried without service having not been baptised and Frederick comments upon the sudden death of this child. By stark contrast, the next line states that ‘a male bastard child’ was buried having died aged 12 hours. This baby clearly would also have died suddenly though this is not recorded.
If you have many hours to while away and an interest in the parishes of Cornwall, I would recommend a gander at the images collection. Look out for Sillifant references for me too, eh!
