Hi Karen The best way for you to get back further is to get a birth certificate for one of Walter’s children. This will give you a maiden name for Walter’s wife – Harriet. With this information you could get a marriage certificate which will show both fathers – if Walter’s mother was single then no father will be shown – or then again it might !! You said they married in Devon in 1857 – do you have a certificate – I only query it because there appears to be no obvious link to that area of the country and Harriet was born in Surrey. There is a lot of Devon Blaxalls but I don’t know if that marriage is connected to them rather than your branch If you want any advice on how to go about getting certificates email me direct and I can let you know how to go about it. By the way what part of the world are you from ? Got to go – children need feeding again !!! Best wishes Angela