Hi All More etymology than genealogy, and possibly some graphology, but any input welcome. I know my g.g.grandfather William Wood (b Twyning, Glos, 1832) worked on the canals from Gloucestershire to the Midlands, probably shipping coal. On my g.grandmother Clara Wood's birth certificate he was described as what looks like a "walesman". I am no graphologist, but I am more convinced that the word is "walesman" than I am that the registrar forgot to cross the "t" and made an "r" look like an "s". I have also found various canal- and coal-friendly references to "wale" and "waling" as follows: (1) Horizontal planking between piles to hold back earth (as per the sides of a canal) - this is still in use in modern engineering. (2) Horizontal planking on a boat, either for the whole of the hull or on the outside of the hull (as in "gunwale"). (3) The washing of coal. (4) A modern reference to "waling" in terms of tying up a canal barge to moor it, it being the part of the boat one ties up. (5) "wale" as a colloquial term for a "wall", so possibly it's someone who walked the barge through tunnels. Any input to this debate welcome. Regards Craig Kersey North Yorkshire Interests: KERSEY (Wetherden, Suffolk; Burton, Wirral; Birkenhead, Cheshire; West Derby, Liverpool) WOOD (Twyning/Tirley/Shothonger, Glos; West Derby, Liverpool) GOODACRE (Kensington, Liverpool) OWENS (Kensington, Liverpool)