Hi, Currently researching the family of PILE who were shipbuilders in Sunderland and West Hartlepool. William senior and sons John and William. There was also a younger brother Thomas who I think was also a shipbuilder. It is Thomas that interests me. Some of his children were born in London, so they must have moved there from Co.Durham. My dates are to say the least "vague and conflicting" but I have a birth certificate for Thomas for 1840, and I am reasonably certain that it is the correct one. He married Agnes DORAN who was Irish. They migrated to New Zealand in 1876, with the first 4 of their children and settled in Opotiki in the Bay of Plenty. Is there anyone on the list who can give me more information on this shipbuilding family? One source says that William senior's father was a glassmaker, while another claims the family was originaly from Rothbury in Northumberland and were farmers. Is there someone who might kindly look up the 1861 census for Monkwearmouth or Hartlepool or Sunderland. In about 1866 the Pile family shipbuilding business took a nose dive and John and possibly Thomas went to London, I think to Dulwich. PMT