Hi Christine You are correct – my eyes have deceived me as I didn’t blow up the image sufficiently. The entry in the parish register reads: '---- 24 Joshua Whittaker, Furnace Pool M' Put ‘Furnace Pool Macclesfield’ into Google Maps and you will see the actual farm. Google ‘Marton Cheshire Genuki’ and the parishes will be explained. Ruth ----- Original Message ----- From: Christine Benson To: Ruth J ; Cheshire Sent: Sunday, October 20, 2013 2:24 PM Subject: Re: Marking on parish burial register Hi Ruth and All, Many thanks for your reply, Ruth. I am also looking at FMP. Looking at it again with the suggestions you have given I now believe the character to be “M”, at least in the man I am looking at. It compares well with other “M”s, such as in “March” but no sign of an “a” that I can see. It would seem that in most cases children are identified by their parent’s names, wives are identified by their husband’s names and men are identified by location. However, Joshua’s will says he was “of Gawsworth”, he was buried in Gawsworth, his MI says “of the Furness Pool, in Gawsworth and Furnace Pool farm is in Gawsworth. So why, in a Gawsworth burial, should it indicate “M” which could maybe be Macclesfield or Marton, but doesn’t seem like Gawsworth or Furnace Pool? Mystified! Christine From: Ruth J Sent: Sunday, October 20, 2013 10:45 AM To: Cheshire ; christinebenson313@btinternet.com Subject: Marking on parish burial register Hi Christine FMP shows the letters clearly to be 'Ma'. This could be an abbreviation for a place. The writer is not always consistent. Sometimes he uses 'M' sometimes 'Ma' sometimes 'Macc' sometimes the whole word 'Macclesfield'. Just to add to possibilities there is a also township of MARTON a few miles from Gawsworth which 'Ma' could represent. So maybe he is consistent. He uses N.R. for North Rode so no problem there! Ruth