You have all been so wonderful in filling me in, clueing me in, lining me out......i sincerely thank each and every one of you! my clan were mostly located in the bedford area, all those little hamlets and villages...then they started to migrate for one reason or another... death of a spouse was often the reason, the widow 'went home', some of the kids were grown, some were not, so the youngest went with mom or the widowed father (that remarried 'Sarah')....various spellings, very common names, have been most frustrating. i suppose that is the real reason i finally decided to make this trip over. i was in england 3 years ago, but in the London and Kent region, i did not know about this 'knot' at that time. i do have ancestry, i do have the census, i have been trying to follow all of the boards, websites, etc. most of what i come up with is index's, without any, or very little supporting information. ie, father and mothers names, mothers maiden names, spouse names, etc. nothing to really link them together. the marriage index is most frustrating....there can be 10 people listed on the page....and no l! ink as to who married who! the partners are not connected.....and there are often 'several good choices to choose from' :) Then there are all of the Davids, James, Johns, Georges, that married all of the Emma's, Elizabeth's, and Mary Ann's, and the male and female children being named after the grandparents, parents, favorite aunt or uncle, or strung together after 3 or 4 ancestors! then there is not being all that familiar with the local vernacular, how things work, what boundry a hamlet or village was in at any given time. i do cut and past what i find into the individual records.....i can deal with all of the ag laborers and straw plaitters....and am thankful for the occassional blacksmith or hurdlemaker (just what was a hurdle...only thing i can think of is what horses jump over?:) i knew about the Britrail Pass...but had not heard of the National Rail Co or the Thameslink. Thank all of you for the great info. The bus sounds good, but i know i will be flat exhausted when i get into london. it depends if i get a flight thru dallas or chicago to which airport i use. someone at work told me that they thought there was a direct line from gatwick, but had no idea about heathrow...i never understood why when i flew to france i did not have the jet lag problem, but with london i do. it was explained to me by a 40year military veteran....once you CROSS over the GMT, no problem, but london IS GMT, so one 'hits the envelope'.... i have been trying to untangle this clan for about 5 years....sometimes i think i got it....only to find out.....nope, that isn't it! or, most often.....need more information to prove it. The primary names are Wells, ODell, Hilliard/Hillyard, Wilson, and Stevens in Beds. Per my grandmother Nellie Wells, her father James Wells's grandmother was an ODell.....but the only Wells/Odell marriage i find is David Wells b ca 1865, son of James - to Isabella Odell b ca 1866 Shefford, dau of George and Isabella. but i only find them with one child, Maude, b ca 1883-1889 per 1891 and 1901 census, and there are quite a few others.....George Wells m Emma Hilliard b ca 1843 in Shefford, dau of George and Emma! Thanks again to all of you. Your comments, suggestions, info is most graciously received Sandee sandee@ionet.net