Hello Anna - > Seeking parents of Richard, who was born in Shiplake 1753, did they come > from Reading? anyone able to help please? Anna Shiplake is on the northern side of the Thames, and by the time you're that far upriver you've left Buckinghamshire and are in Oxfordshire. Look at the parish map (showing border parishes and counties) on the Oxfordshire FHS site at www.ofhs.org.uk . Certainly there are a lot of BLACKMAN events in the registers of parishes neighbouring Shiplake at that time. The earliest BLACKMAN baptism in Shiplake itself is 1790, whereas yes, there are BLACKMAN events in Caversham (edge of Reading) back to the 1600s. We're off-topic for this list, but my suggestions would be either to purchase the CD of transcribed parishes in that area OXF-SO02, or to wait til the Oxfordshire baptism index is a little more complete, and then ask for a search therein. There are also a couple of people registered on the surname list OXSIL, at http://www.rootsweb.com/~oxsil/surb.htm for BLACKMAN in that area - you might like to contact them. -- Wendy