Hi Chris, Your post intrigued me as the same naming pattern exixts in my line... I have William Henry b. abt. 1816, Hackney, Middlesex, London; naming his son > James William b. 2 Feb 1852, Finchley, Middlesex, London > James Sidney b. 27 Oct 1894, Islington, Middlesex, London.... both "James" dropped the name James and went by their middle names. In the family groups, Jms. Wm. had a brother James b. >1843 and < 1849 who must have died in infancy, making the name available to rename him that name in 1852... This James guy must have been pretty special for everyone to make a point of putting it in??? Then, Wm. Jms. named one of his children William Henry after his father and another Arthur Frederick (just noting the name Frederick common in your line...). So the Wm and Jms names include a number of people. We have been unable to get further back than our William Henry who was a London Constable... Do you make anything of the naming pattern and do you have idea who this JAMES was they all were honoring with so many repetitious renamings??? ;] Do you know anything about your James Richard's family? All ideas welcome, Jana Black Chris Dewhurst wrote: > Dewhurst, James Frederick (my father): > > B. May 1, 1910, Herne Hill, London > Father: Dewhurst, James Richard - seaman > Mother: Dewhurst, Millicent nee Challis > > ==== DEWHURST Mailing List ==== > Check out US GENWEB for surnames, info by county or country and more! > http://www.usgenweb.net/ ~ Also see the World GENWEB Project for international > queries http://www.worldgenweb.org/ TIP:use multiple spellings!