In message <003701c4f38b$30023030$ee252952@oneself>, gill kelly <gk011a6271@blueyonder.co.uk> writes >My mother is a little hazy about her aunts and uncles, I wonder if anyone has an >opportunity to look at the records for me.... >I have Margaret Annie Perkins b.1900 in Amersham, the daughter of Alfred PERKINS >and Mary TACK, I know she had an older sister who might have been Mary, and >other siblings, the youngest one of whom is still alive I understand. One was >called Lily and my Ma remembers an Auntie Tine... Probably the best bet is first checking the 1901 census (you can pick up all the Perkins in Amersham free from the index) then start looking at FreeBMD (again, free access to index) to find other births later, if the total in 1901 is small. The births are likely to come up every two years. This is a lot easier than trying to search the parish registers - and given that Amersham was a hotbed of dissenters, more likely to be profitable. >which I think was a nickname >on account of her diminutive stature! Typical - could be anything from Jane to Sophonisba. > I am really looking for some births and >marriages for any of them. Once you have the likely births sorted out, then fast forward about twenty years and check the marriage indexes. By then, the surname of spouse is included in the index, so it is simple to find out his .her first name. And the births also show maiden name of mother from 1912 on, and just using the indexes, you can build up quite a neat skeleton tree. -- Eve McLaughlin Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society