> Leonie...Rothes Records have been filmed but you can also see > them in > Edinburgh. All the Old Parish Records that exsist were to be > turned in, and > not left with the Parish. Some parishes after 1855 still > recorded things, > but mostly by the 1870's this had petered out. But most > anything after 1855 > you will find at Scotland's People. Sorry to have to contradict you, Goldie, but I think most if not all churches still do keep records of baptisms for purely religious purposes. In the eyes of the churches baptism is an important life event, and just because the older parish registers had been gathered in for safe keeping of their content for civil purposes did not mean that the baptismal registers were discontinued. I remember seeing my name and my brother's on the cradle roll of the kirk whose minister baptised us and I know that at least some kirks still have the cradle roll on display. It's just that the post-1855 ones have never been centrally collected. This was no longer necessary, because statutory civil registration removed the need to use the church records for civil purposes. Anne

You are right, of course. What I meant was that there was civil registration beginning in 1855, so there is no access to the Kirk records after 1870 or so for most of us not in Scotland. (I have seen some records later on that than, but it seems to be rare indeed). A person should be checking Kirk Registry's (OPR's) before 1855, then SP or Edinburgh after. I do know some of the Old Registers are missing in some parishes, that they are not ALL found. I would expect that to be explained by fire, loss or decay. But it so good we have what we have, available to us. Most of us would be sunk without what we do have available. Goldie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anne Burgess" <anne.burgess@btinternet.com> To: <moray@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 10:12 AM Subject: Re: [MORAY] parish records-NOT OPRs >> Leonie...Rothes Records have been filmed but you can also see >> them in >> Edinburgh. All the Old Parish Records that exsist were to be >> turned in, and >> not left with the Parish. Some parishes after 1855 still >> recorded things, >> but mostly by the 1870's this had petered out. But most >> anything after 1855 >> you will find at Scotland's People. > Sorry to have to contradict you, Goldie, but I think most if not > all churches still do keep records of baptisms for purely > religious purposes. In the eyes of the churches baptism is an > important life event, and just because the older parish > registers had been gathered in for safe keeping of their content > for civil purposes did not mean that the baptismal registers > were discontinued. > > I remember seeing my name and my brother's on the cradle roll of > the kirk whose minister baptised us and I know that at least > some kirks still have the cradle roll on display. > > It's just that the post-1855 ones have never been centrally > collected. This was no longer necessary, because statutory civil > registration removed the need to use the church records for > civil purposes. > > Anne > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MORAY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >