Hi Barbara Thanks for your reply. I had tried that method for births but as none had the right parents I disregarded them. Pamela found Eliza(Elizabeth) born 1855 shown as SLOOPS and as it happens it was her as she married Thomas William KELLER who is the informant on Elizabeth (Eliza) DENNISS's death certificate and is shown as son-in-law. Unfortunately I couldn't find any of the other 4 deceased children. The one in Victoria was Sarah and there are two living ones in NSW William and Elizabeth. No idea where the rest are if there others. It wouldn't be the first time that there were errors on a death certificate. Thanks again for your interest Gary -----Original Message----- From: Maurie O'Connor [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, 17 July 2008 3:29 PM To: Gary Bond; [email protected] Subject: Re: Help Needed NSW BDM can be searched online for free - www.bdm.nsw.gov.au I did a search for births Stoops, 1852 - 1860 and came up with V18541165 52/1854 STOOPS FANNY ROBERT Buy Now 6252/1856 STOOPS WILLIAM A ROBERT MARGARET NEWCASTLE Buy Now You can use wildcards, as in my search for a death for st**ps which resulted in only one entry - 31/1858 STOOPS JAMES AGE 30 YEARS DIED SYDNEY SYDNEY Buy Now You can use "very" wildcards as in a death search in 1852 only, using only * for surname and Elizabeth for Given Name = 129 Elizabeth's registered as having died in 1852. Doesn't look like much joy for you in Sydney. You could get a transcription of the death registration ($15 from a transcriber - cheaper and much, much quicker than NSW BDMs). The occupation of James might give you some insight into why he was in Sydney. Regards Barbara