My name is Brian Disbury and I have recently joined your list. I am a descendant of John Desborough of Dry Drayton and Charlotte Sparkes of Kingston who were married in 1795. I have two main roadblocks. 1. I have accounted for all of their male descendants( that I have found), with the exception of James Desborough , John's son who was baptized in 1795.He seems to have disappeared. `2. The marriage of John and Charlotte is well recorded as are some of their progeny but I have after 2 years of research been unsuccessful in finding evidence of John's parents. . I researched most of the Cambridgeshire parishes to see if I could find a John Desborough born about 1763/4 who had not been accounted for-been married or died before 1795.Un fortunately the IGI covers very few of the Parishes and there are lots of gaps in the Parish records( Eltisley is a typical example), so I have accumulated Microfiche of many of the Parish records so that I can continue my research from Arizona where I now live..Gaps in parish recorded information can, for the most part, be obtained via the Bishops Transcripts held at the Cambridge University Library.The Cambridgeshire Family History Society(www.cfhs.org.uk) and their research members have been very helpful. By default, I found a John Desborough bp 1763 in Over, the son of John Disbrow (changed to Desborough) and Elizabeth Betts of Over. In order to find proof I extended my search to associated families(even friends) and am still working on it. Apart from the Sparkes of Kingston, the Colletts, Giffords and Kidmans I became absorbed by the Disbrows of Over. Nathaniel Disbrow's will of 1651 refers to son John(bp 1630) , who was out of the country at the time of the will in 1651 but returned with wife Ann who produced their first child in 1653. Was he the John who turned up in New haven??? Nathaniel was Isaac snr's brother and the uncle of Samuel, Thomas and Isaac jnr. My interest in the New England Disbrows is that some of the "lost" Disbrows from Cambridgeshire may turn up there. There were lots of Disbrows, with innumerable variations of spelling, living in Cambridge in the 1600's but by the 1851 census there were only a handful left/.By the 1881 census there was only 1 family left in Over, 2 in Elsworth and none in Eltisley. In fact the last person to be buried in Eltisley was James Disbrowe, referred to as a clerk,in fact a clergyman, in 1703. James' daughter Elizabeth Disbrow,a widow, (wife of Nathaniel Disbrow who was buried in Eltisley in 1702) married Robert Shipsea on October 15 1702. The Rectory and Advowson of Eltisley, inherited by Elizabeth( when a Disbrow) were conveyed in trust to a John Disbrowe of Willingham in 1713 and he sold them to Hester Baron of Little Eversden. Eltisleys answer to "the last of the Mohicans"!!!! . In just over 100 years, the Disbrowe empire that spread from Huntingdon thoughout Cambridge and Hertford down to(or back to) Saffron Walden, just inside the Essex border, had been sadly reduced. Although I am researching nearly 200 years before my roadblock of 1763 I find the Over Disbrows/Desboroughs very interesting and have got the bug...I just want to see if I can link up all of the villages, which is proving very tough as they moved around so much, particularly if they were involved in farming ,be it yeoman or labourer. . My grandfather 3, Sparks Desborough used the name Desborough for his Indenture as a Cordwainer in 1823 but was married in 1831 under the name of Disbury which has remained with us ever since. I found the" archives of messages for Disbow", very interesting and would confirm that the Church records for Caldecote show that Thomas Peck married Frances Taylor on February 28 1608, unfortunately the baptisms only started in 1640 so I shall have to look up the Bishops Transcripts for daughter Elizabeth when I get to Cambridge in September. I shall be there for some 10 days so if I can help anyone in any way, if only to point anyone in the right direction, please contact me. Incidentally there were a few Peck(a)s in both Caldecote and Eltisley around the early 1600's If any one knows anything about my John Desborough I shall be delighted to know---even if it is "bad"news..