Re: Rolleston History, England
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In reply to:
Re: Rolleston History, England
Beth Heiney 1/19/13
Beth,
Africa is a surprise, I thought you were probably writing from USA.
OPR is the Old Parish Registers. By law, each parish church had to record their births, deaths & marriages in a register. This became law in around about 1535 (I don't remember the exact date but have it somewhere). If researchers are lucky, their OPR of interest may go back into the 1500's, though many did not, the clergymen were idle, or the volumes have not survived. In the case of Rolleston, we are fortunate that the register begins as early as 1569. I have a transcription through to 1644, there are no Holland entries.
IGI is the International Genealogical Index, run by the Mormon church in USA. They have copied many OPR registers onto microfilm, openly available for reference. Most family history societies and regional record offices have copies of the microfilms. Many large libraries also have them or a selection for their area or country. The IGI is an essential tool for researchers.
Ken.