Hi, I sent a big thank you to everyone who took the time to help out with my query about this use of aliases and it seems to have been eaten by the cat so my apologies if this turns up mysteriously twice. I really appreciated all the information and thinking that went into the responses and it has all given me much food for thought. I am particularly grateful for the links to the two articles. Now I lean towards either illegitimacy or protection of inheritance but am not firmly committed. One of my Reede or Blackmores left a will but only in the Index so no real help there except to know one existed. Since my post I have gone searching for more examples of this use of surnames and have found a couple in my chosen area - Barnstaple - and around the same dates. So I will try to find more info on them. All good fun. Thanks again. Carolyne Sydney Oz

Morning, I generally lurk on the mailing lists simply because in a majority of times that little word 'Thank you' hasn't been used when I have answered or even done research for someone. How refreshing it is to see Carolyne's sincere thank you message. Returning now to my lurking. Heather --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus