Hi All I'm just coming to realise that I have a whole web to untangle. I'm hoping that one of you out there might take pity and look up a probate reference in Carlisle Record Office - so that I can then order the relevant LDS film. My problem.is to do with my g-g-g-grandmother, Mary Stamper. I'm lucky, or unlucky enough (considering the number of things that are wrong), to have a family tree composed by a few earlier amateur historians of the family. One of these has put as a footnote that Mary was adopted and mentions the will of her father William Stamper of Freeland Place in Irthington. I rather assume that the awareness of the adoption comes from some mention in the will ... so the first thing I need to do is to look at it and see what light it sheds. I don't have a probate index immediately to hand or a very precise date. Mary was born in 1783, so I'm looking for a William Stamper of Irthington who died sometime after that date. If I have a date, I can order the one or two LDS probate films that cover it. The tangled web comes from a hint in Caesar Caine's book about Cleator Moor. He mentions what look like family inheritance feuds in the Stamper family there in the eighteenth century. One of the people involved was the Rev. John Stamper of Irthington. So I'm rather hoping that William Stamper of Irthington was related and that Mary was adopted from some other branch of the family rather than being a complete stranger. Thanks for any assistance. Chris chris@dickinson.uk.net