I have had an off-list message concerning the WALL and HOBBS families, so this morning I have been looking around my resources to see what I could find out about them. I recognized the HOBBS family from previous B & S correspondence with Dianne Dixon: Bachlelor, Robert Purnell WALL, and spinster, Emma HOBBS, were married on 28th. March 1826 at the church of St. James, Mangotsfield , GLS. The groom was of Stroudwater, GLS, while the bride was of the parish of Mangotsfield. The marriage took place by licence and by the consent of Aquella H. It looks like Aquella (sic) was Aquila HOBBS, the grandmother of Emma. The private baptism on 1st. March 1809 of Emma HOBBS, the daughter of James and Sophia HOBBS, was noted in the Stapleton register. It was also noted that Emma was base-born on 14th. February and the mother's surname was LEWIS. In the 1851 census, John WALL, the likely son of Robert Purnell WALL and Emma WALL, was recorded as a 16-year-old apprentice in the household of John MABYN, Linen Draper, in Wine Street, Bristol. The birth place of this John WALL was recorded as Stapleton, I can't find a baptism in the Bristol Diocese for John WALL either in Anglican or non-conformist churches so I suspect that Emma WALL, John's mother, came home to Stapleton for the birth of her baby, but perhaps he was baptized elsewhere in Gloucestershire possibly in the Stroud area. Could someone with access to the Gloucestershire Family History Society baptisms 1813-1837 have a look for the baptism of John WALL, son of Robert and Emma, born. c.1835 and also for the baptisms of an older sister, Emma, please? I would appreciate it if any answers could be sent to the list, please, so that my correspondent can see them, though I have advised him to join the list as list members may have further information on these families. -- Josephine Jeremiah www.ianandjo.dsl.pipex.com