CORNWALL ONLINE PARISH CLERKS - helping bring the past alive

ABOUT US

The Cornwall Online Parish Clerk project was envisioned by three gentlemen residing in Cornwall, Michael McCormick, David Stick, and Paul Brewer, while enjoying an extended repast at the Queen's Head, St. Stephen in Brannel, sometime in the year 2000. During further meetings, they sorted out the questions and decided the group's structure - a rather unique concept. There is no "formal" structure, other than a person who co-ordinates the assignments of parishes to individuals.
 

Paul, Michael & David
Queen's Head, St. Stephen in Brannel - and 2 of our 3 founders
Michael McCormick on right, Paul Brewer on left; David Stick operating camera.

In January, 2001, they announced the group to the Cornish Lists at Rootsweb, the world's largest free genealogy resource, and asked for volunteers. List members from around the world responded.
Through diligent recruiting efforts, and enthusiastic volunteers, the group has grown, as has the concept. In fact, it has expanded to several other Counties (see list on the Resources page). Some of our OPCs have been with the group since its inception; others are newly recruited.
Each volunteer takes on one or more parishes, and decides how they would like to proceed. The only requirement is that they share their knowledge with researchers, at no charge. Many OPCs have chosen to transcribe Parish registers, and put those records online via their own websites. Others have posted them to this website. Not all the transcriptions are for parishes with OPCs; be sure to check via our Parish Index page. Lastly, some OPCs prefer to receive email enquiries & provide lookups from materials they've gathered. Please allow two or three weeks for a reply, as circumstances may dictate a delayed response. If you haven't received a timely response, you may contact our coordinator, Myra Cordrey.
All transcriptions are copyright of the individuals who produced them; they are on this site courtesy of those persons, and are intended for the use of individuals. Every precaution has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the work. However, as human error may occur, we recommend checking originals.

If you need more information about the OPC project please contact our coordinator, Diane Donohue. For information about this website, contact Myra Cordrey.

Update: A very successful 10th. anniversary lunch was held on 18th. November 2010, appropriately at the same pub. Michael McCormick, Dave Stick and about 20 OPCs were able to able to attend. Our group is active and flourishing! A few photographs can be seen here.

We'd like to thank each of the following people for participating in and helping the Cornwall Online Parish Clerk group. All have served in the past as OPCs and their contributions are appreciated by all. The list is not complete, so many thanks to all other contributors.

Walter Badge
Pat Banks
Althea Barker
Sue Boyland
Kathy Bretthauer
Paul Brewer (founding member)
Janice Brooker
Don Curkeet, R.I.P.
Christopher Dean
Greta Erm
Lorraine Fisher
Paul Ganser, R.I.P.
Patricia Hard
Rev. Jo Harper
Steve Hatton
Kay Hinnrichsen
Phil Hollywood
Carol Hughes
Lorna Leadbetter
Michael McCormick (founding member)
Doris Parsons Miller
Dean Newman
Susan Old, R.I.P.
Margaret Owens, R.I.P.
Christine Parker
Clive Pinch
Ron Reed
Marg Chapple Rosen
Jim Sheppard
Peter Siegel
David Stick (founding member)
Sharon Symons
Maryann Till
Kay Williams
Mark Winnacott
Kay Woodhouse

We would also like to acknowledge the huge contribution of Ian Argall, for maintaining such a comprehensive set of pages for Cornwall on the Genuki website. Our thanks also go to the Cornwall Record Office, for all their help and cooperation and to Ken Ozanne for filming so many records for us.

A group of OPCs, with different areas of expertise, joined together to build this site.

Myra Cordrey
Donald Curkeet
Diane Donohue
Michael Lightfoot
Michael McCormick
Julia Mosman
Rick Parsons
Jim Sheppard

Since then, many OPCs have contributed the information and photographs which can be found in the Resources section and the Parish pages. Other people have donated time and effort as well; we'd especially like to thank

Steve Beazley
Simon Lewis
Malcolm McCarthy
Joanne McClean
and Charles Winpenny

for allowing us to use the results of their hard work. Without their participation, the site would be much less interesting and rewarding.

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