Anyone interested in the HURST family of Swalwell and Winlaton (from about 1741 to 1810) should know that there is volume of letters written to or by them in Bristol Record Office containing a wealth of family history information. The letters are catalogued as Bristol Record Office reference 39801/X/1, entitled: "Extract from the Epistolary Correspondence of Victory Purdy, written during period 1784-1810 photocopied". Victory PURDY (my 5 greats grandfather) was a preacher in the Bristol area, whose father, John PURDY was baptised in 1717 at Holy Cross, Ryton. John, a tailor, went to London and was thence drafted by John Wesley to help him preach in the mining villages round Bristol. In 1808, John's son Victory, with no local relatives, at long last succeeded in contacting his father's HURST relatives in Ryton parish and struck up a correspondence that contains a considerable amount of family history as the 2 sides told each other about their lives. This particular branch of the Hurst family starts with James HURST (a.k.a. HEARST) marrying Jane PURDY (John's sister) in 1741 at Ryton. Writers of the letters include - John HURST (b abt 1742 to James and Jane) (who had his leg amputated in 1761, we learn) - Nicholas HURST (bap 1751 to James and Jane) (a nailer / surveyor of nails - almost certainly he worked for Crowley Millington & Co. like many of his family. Married twice - 2nd wife defied all clichés by being a good step-mother) - John HURST (nephew to the above two, a clerk at Crowley Millington & Co and a captain in the militia - I think!) - James HURST (son of Nicholas, m Christian McCOLVIN, a whitesmith and Methodist preacher who indicates some slight degree of estrangement in the Hurst cousins between those committed to their religion and those not. They all meet professionally and they meet James at baptisms and funerals, but many do not see him otherwise) There are some 76 pages - all written by Victory PURDY so presumably his file-copies of the originals authored by both himself and the Hursts. My own summaries concentrate more on the Purdy family which goes back to John PURDY living at Stella in 1677, then Blaydon 1679 onwards. He's grandfather to the John PURDY who went to London and Bristol and looks like an incomer to the parish, from where I don't know but Whickham looks interesting. (Anyone with knowledge of him welcomed!) Just thought you might like to know since Bristol's not an obvious place to find information about a family in that area. Adrian B