Dear Eve, (And BJ Owners, forgive me for beginning with straying from UK genealogy). As Ellis Island per se opened in the 1890s and closed in the 1920s, okay to be precise it was from 1892 until 1924, there is no way that Nathan Lazarus could have come through that portal. Yes, he could have entered the Port of New York but using the moniker "Ellis Island" can be misleading. A well-known website whose name cannot be mentioned has passenger manifests going back much earlier as I'm sure you know. It's more probable that he entered by way of Montreal instead, but I could be wrong. Now back to UK genealogy: Your plea for help for locating any information on Nathan Lazarus between 1841 and 1861 raises the typical question that any genealogist should be asking first - what documents would have been created during that period of time that he might appear in? This is what separates out the novices from the more experienced researchers. Enthusiastic people always ask whatever happened to great aunt/uncle (fill in the blank). The real question is, as I've cited above; knowing what records exist, what they contain and would the information therein be of any use to you? What did Nathan do for a living? Was he a merchant (try business/trade directories). Perhaps his trade or profession had a guild or trade organization. Was he active in his local congregation? If a business owner did the local newspaper run adverts? Of course reading between the lines, if he hadn't made much of himself, then there is far less likelihood that he would have been in many if any of the documentary records of that time. On the other hand if he had committed a crime, there might be something in the local newspaper! And it's just occurred to me that as the couple married in 1853 - did they have any children? Do their birthplaces shed any light on where the couple were living? These avenues of research are the same approaches one would take no matter which side of the pond he might be residing. Good luck, -- Jeremy G Frankel Folsom, CA Searching for: FRANKEL: Plock, Poland; London, England GOLDRATH/GOLD: Praszka, Poland; London, England KOENIGSBERG: Vilkaviskis, Lithuania; London, England; NY, USA LEVY (later LEADER): Kalisz, Poland; London, England Pinkus, Poland; London, England PRINCZ/PRINCE: Krakow, Poland; London, England; NY, USA