Devon Banns, Marriages and Burials - findmypast

[ElizabethHerts]

Devon Banns
An additional 39,325 records have are now available to search within our collection of Devon Banns. Banns of marriage, more commonly known simply as the 'banns' or 'bans' (from a Middle English word meaning 'proclamation', rooted in the Old French) are the public announcement in a Christian parish church of an impending marriage. Their purpose is to prevent invalid marriages by allowing anyone to raise any canonical or civil legal impediment to the marriage.

Spanning the years 1629 to 1918, the Devon Banns collection was published in association with the South West Heritage Trust and Parochial Church Council. Records include both transcripts and images of original documents that will reveal your ancestor's banns dates, intended spouse's name and couple's residences.

Devon Marriages
Over 79,000 new records have been added to our collection of Devon Marriages. The collection covers the years between 1507 and 2002 and consists of images and transcripts that have been made available online thank to the assistance of volunteers of the Devon Family History Society.

While the collection is made up of Anglican parish registers, other religious denominations, with the exception of Quakers and Jews, often registered these events in their local Church of England parish even after the Toleration Act of 1689. Between 1754 and 1837 it was illegal to marry anywhere other than a Church of England parish. Transcripts and images will reveal your ancestor's marriage date, spouse's name, and parish, bride's maiden name, groom's occupation and names of witnesses

Devon Burials
31,351 new records have been added to our collection of Devon Burials. The collection consists of original Anglican parish registers and burial registers from Ford Park Cemetery and Torquay Cemetery.

Devon burials now contains over 2.1 million records spanning 450 years that will reveal your ancestor's birth year, death year, burial date and burial location.

Devon, Plymouth & West Devon Parish Registers Browse
This week's new additions to our collections of Devon parish baptisms, banns, marriages and burials are also available to browse.

Our browse function allows you to explore thousands of pages of original registers spanning three centuries of Devonshire history. All the images were created from the original registers held at the Plymouth & West Devon Record Office. Parish registers are an excellent resource for family historians and local historians, especially if you are tracing your family further than 1837.