I don't know how many of you have roots in Cornwall, but I found this story in the current Rootsweb Review under date 26 March 2003 pretty terrific. Cathy CORNISH OPCs SET STERLING EXAMPLE --Julia Mosman, OPC for St.Austell,Charlestown, and Treverbyn http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~staustell/ I belong to an organization that’s existed for two years now -- the On- line Parish Clerks (OPC) for Cornwall, England. Three Cornish gentlemen, Paul BREWER, David STICK, and Michael McCORMICK, came up with the concept, formulated the ideas and goals, and posted a request for volunteers. The results exceeded their expectations. Very quickly, more than 80 persons volunteered to help in the effort each taking one or more parish. While many OPCs are from Cornwall, two-thirds are from elsewhere, including New Zealand, Australia, and the U.S. (For those not familiar with these terms, a parish is the equivalent of a county in the U.S., and Cornwall might be likened to a state.) Each volunteer agreed to gather whatever information they could regarding their adopted parish, and offer their knowledge to researchers for free. Many have done this work for years and some are new recruits. All share the enjoyment of helping fellow researchers. Recently, a lady from Massachusetts contacted me regarding her newly- discovered link to Cornwall. She knew only that her great-grandmother had come from St. Austell, Cornwall. She found my website at RootsWeb, and contacted me. I searched what records I had, and confirmed the baptismal record, which showed the parents' names. I found the family in the "1841 FreeCens" census database, so we knew where they were living, all the names of the living siblings, and the father’s occupation. Then the father appeared in a city directory, which confirmed his occupation. Unfortunately, the parents weren't born or married in St. Austell so there were no more recordsT and the trail went cold. So I contacted OPCs of neighboring parishes. Jessie Evans, of New Zealand, was quick to reply; she had the marriage of the parents. Additionally, she had the birth of the mother, and the names of the mother’s parents. Rita Bone Koop, from the U.S., checked her records too. Success. She found the baptismal records of the father, and his parents -- in fact, 3 generations in all. Of course, what we found had to be confirmed/corroborated by certificates, etc., and in time our work proved correct. Needless to say, the lady from Massachusetts was thrilled. And we were overjoyed to have helped her find her family. It was a real success for all of us. There have been so many stories like this one. In fact, another OPC found eight generations of my family for me, which lead me to volunteer for the project (luckily for me, my family had stayed in one parish for a very long time). If you have questions regarding your Cornish researches, please check the list of active OPCs at http://west-penwith.org.uk/opc.htm, which has links. Devon has a similar project which has run for some time, and Dorset is establishing a project. Hopefully the idea will spread to other counties. But, in the meantime, if you've got a question regarding research in Cornwall, please contact us. We'd love to hear