Trying again - previous attempt to post this was apparently lost in a black hole! Wondering if anyone can help with this puzzle. The 1881 census CD shows a John Marchant, age 75, unemployed boatman, living at Harp Inn Yard in Wolverhampton with his wife Mary Ann, age 53, whose birthplace is given as Raiton, Staffs. Also two children, Isaac, 30 (a boatman) and Selina, 27, both born in Woodside, Worcs and a third Mary, 13, born in Wolverhampton. John's birthplace is given as Hemsey, Worcs which I believe to be a misreading of Kempsey, which is where John, the older brother of my GG grandfather, Frederick Marchant was born at the right date. It would also perhaps indicate that the other birthplaces were mis-transcribed. Any suggestions where they might be? I understand there was an area of Dudley called Waterside close to St Thomas, where I have found a possible record of Isaac's christening in 1851. There is also a possible marriage for John and Mary Anne there in 1846. "Raiton" has me completely beaten. If John is who I think, it might explain why he and his brother are the only Marchant / Merchant records I could find in Kempsey, 8 years apart - their father may well have been a boatman as well and children would presumably have been born wherever the family happened to be. Any ideas, suggestions, flashes of inspiration, (or even definitive answers!!) welcome Howard