"Paul Higgins" <paulhiggins.mail@googlemail.com> wrote [snipped] >I understand that some of my ancestors lived in and around the > Berriew/Welshpool area. The surname is Higgins and the name James was a > common given name. We came across many of that name when transcribing the Berriew parish registers for Montgomeryshire Genealogical Society, going back to the 1670s I think. These can be searched free online [payment of fees for details] at http://www.familyhistoryonline.net/ Or you can purchase the transcriptions [recommended when you have many in a parish] at http://home.freeuk.net/montgensoc/pages/pubns.htm Hope this helps, Bryn Ellis