Date sent: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 10:16:11 +1000 From: "Alyson Kelman" <grange@hunterlink.net.au> To: SCOTLAND-GENWEB-L@rootsweb.com Subject: In favour of OPR Baptisms > Hello, Everyone. > > I'm a little surprised at the pessimism of recent comments on pre-155 > birth/baptismal records. > > At the very least, OPR Baptisms give the father's name, location, and the > names of at least two witnesses. **** I'm afraid that such a supposition is incorrect. What you get depends entirely on the minister or Session Clerk of the time. The minimum is usually something like "John's Smith's child baptised this day.", or another which I once saw: "baptized this day the child of a travelling woman." > > Unless you look, you will never know how helpful OPR Baptisms can be. > Please, don't disregard them. It is not very wise to try to reconstruct a > family from indexes alone. They are only a guide to primary sources. > > Regards, > > Alyson ** This is very good advice! Gordon. ______________________________ ****************************** Gordon Johnson, Aberdeen, Scotland. KinHelp - historical surname searches & genealogical services: http://www.web-ecosse.com/genes/genes2.htm Home page (+ Scottish material)- http://www.ifb.co.uk/~kinman/ ******************************