Dear Everyone, Thank you all very much for your marvellous suggestions! The background to my query is as follows. I would like to find the parents of Thomas Gillett (from Banbury) who married Mary Brion (sometimes given as Brian or Brown) at Sutton under Brailes on 5 March 1783. Although a labourer, Thomas was literate. He and Mary lived in Bridge Street, Banbury. Thomas does not seem to be related to the famous Gillett bankers of Banbury, whose origins are known to be in Kingham. So where did he come from? Possibly a grandson of Henry Gillett, the miller at Adderbury, but there is no record of the birth, and the name Henry never reappears in the family, which would be unusual. I have searched IGI and Parish Records for surrounding counties, but no plausible candidates for his parents have emerged. I thought he might have migrated to Banbury, perhaps as an excavator, from either end of the Oxford canal which was completed in 1790. If names of the workforce survived, it would allow this hypothesis be checked. If anyone has any thoughts about other sources of migrants to Banbury during this period I would be delighted to hear from you. Raphael Gillett