Thanks for that, Sarah... If they were your ordianary 'midleling' Poor folk - sometimes, there is not even an 18th C Poor Law Certificate for them if they changed villages [Does anyone know the time scale when those Poor Law Certificates came into use & when they finished?] There are other record bits which are easy to overlook - all males aged 17 - 55 were listed in 1803 on the National Defence Muster list ,,,the North Bedfordshire lists are published by the BHRS but those south of Bedford have not survived :0( I do not know if Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire & Hertfordshire have lists? No one in my family left a Will until well into the 20th C as far as I know - but I have found a house-clearance sale for my x gt grandad in the mid-19th C at http://blars.adlibsoft.com/beginner/indnms.html Do people know of any other records that might be otherwise over-looked? cathy