Hello all; My name is Ian Preston, I live in Canberra, and I must admit I never thought I would be subscribing to this list. For the last few years I've been chasing Parish Registers, headstones and Census returns that relate to the Midlands of England, my father's family in Loughborough and my mother's in Barwell, both in Leicestershire. I help run the Barwell mail-list as well as manage a newly created Barwell FH website. My mother's maiden name was BOTTERILL, her parents Joseph William and Alice Maud (formerly CUTTIFORD). I better speed this up, you're probably getting bored..... Alice was born in 1888 to David & Nellie David was born in 1865 to Daniel & Mary Daniel was born in 1831 to Daniel & Ann Daniel was born in 1805 to Daniel & Elizabeth. The 1805 Daniel CUTTIFORD was a shoe maker in Coventry. In 1842 he fell foul of the law and was sentenced to 18months for passing a counterfeit half crown. He had nine kids at this stage so the Judge must have taken pity on him (or at least his wife Ann), counterfeiting being a hanging offence. By 1851 he had vanished from the Warwickshire census. I'd lost him. Then I found him again, on the Post Office Directory of Springbay dated 1866. And so my friends, I join your list, with the following to offer: Convict No: 18447 Name: CUTTIFORD, Daniel Ship: Palmyra Date of Departure: 1May1846, Portsmouth Date of Arrival in Hobart: 23Aug1846 Conduct Record: CON33/81 Description List: CO18/47 INDENT: CON14/36 Age: 40 Daniel had been sprung receiving stolen goods and was sentenced to seven years as it was a second offence.. So far, all I know is that he married Ann TEDMAN in Prossers Plains Baptist Church, 30Mar1854 He was a Shoemaker in Triabunna in 1866 Ann died Springbay 4Jan1869 Daniel died Springbay 5Jul1869 The most excellent Susan Hood at Port Arthur, who has been a great help, is arranging some Tas Archives records for me, which should be available by the end of next week, but already the urge to jump on a QANTAS and start wondering the fields of Spring Bay is stirring. Given that my wife would insist on coming with me, the budget will have to be re-arranged before that can happen, so, could anyone help me with the following: 1. Does the cemetery at Spring Bay still exist & has it been indexed? 2. Does St John's The Baptist at Prossers Plains still stand? 3. Will Daniel's records detail where he served his time, when he was released etc? 4. On their marriage cert of 1854, both Daniel & Ann recorded themselves as widow(er). (Not strictly correct as his wife in England didn't die until 1891). Ann didn't arrive as a convict under the name of Tedman and I've been unable to locate any records that would indicate where she came from and what her maiden name was. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can follow that up? Any help, guidance, advice that anyone could offer will be much appreciated as this is my first venture into researching Australian records. The prospect of having a dead relative (other than my parents of course) in the Southern Hemisphere is quite unique to me. Thanks in advance (and thanks for reading all of the above) Ian