FURW

GENEALOGICAL CONTENTS OF DEVON AND CORNISH WILLS AND INVENTORIES [ca. 1558-1810] (Vol. II)

By C.A.T. Fursdon

Transcribed by Kerrie Johnson and Lindsey Withers

Historical background

C.A.T. Fursdon was a Devon-based genealogist. Back in the late 1920s he happened upon a goodly clutch of documents hidden away in one of the towers of Exeter Cathedral. He transcribed/abstracted these and typed them up in 1931. His work was later bound into two volumes, each with some 600 entries. It is thought that the original documents (from which he transcribed/abstracted the information) perished in the Blitz. In view of this destruction his findings are very valuable indeed.

The Source (FURW) and DWP's editing process

Fursdon's Volume II - part of which comprises this source which we have called FURW - contains abstracts of wills, administrations and inventories. It also contains a good number of executors' accounts, i.e. documents prepared by the executors of a will to show how and to whom they had distributed the bequests in that will. These accounts are sufficiently detailed to act as very adequate substitutes for wills, and have thus been included in our index. (Vol II also contains marriage licence applications, confirmation lists, etc., which have not been included in our index.)

Locating the source and acquiring copies

The two volumes (which we have called FURG and FURW in our source list) are to be found in the Library of The Devon and Cornwall Record Society, which is now located on the open shelves at the Devon Heritage Centre, Exeter. There is a third Fursdon volume there, but this is merely an index of the other two volumes. Researchers wishing to acquire a copy of an item listed in FURW should contact the Devon Heritage Centre.