Looking for my England connections. Cornell and Wilson as the surnames

Question

Looking for a in depth knowledge/history of my family. Both the Wilson side and the Cornell side. Both names rain from England. Cornwall for Cornell and London for Wilson. My grandfather (Nelson Wilson who passed away in either Kitchener or Waterloo Ontario) he was the father to 4 children. One being deceased (Kimberley) ive also been told that his family came off from the boats into England and how everyone was given a name and that's how Wilson came about. As for the Cornell name my grandfather Robert who is deceased for close or around 10 years (died in Toronto, Ontario, Canada). Was almost death and blind at the time of his death from old age. Wife still living. My father has 2 siblings. 1 full sister who is living in England (Deb) and a half sister who lives in Canada. Any connection(s) would be great.

Answer 1

Hi Kaitlin,

For the English records a good places to search are:

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

http://www.freecen.org.uk/

http://www.freereg.org.uk/

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

http://one-name.org/

http://www.british-genealogy.com/forumdisplay.php/177-One-Place-Studies

Also for searching records for free see.

https://familysearch.org/

Some are free and some require payment.

All the best

Billy

Answer 2

Kaitlin, perhaps the most important North American Cornell genealogy resource is a book written by Rev. John Cornell in 1902.  Assuming you find that your paternal grandfather has immediate ancestors in North America, the book could show you his family's lineage from its earliest European migration.

The book is available in multiple digital formats here:

https://archive.org/details/genealogyofcorne00corn