In a message dated 22/05/2007 19:50:04 GMT Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: Hi Geoff, Thanks for your reply and I would be very grateful for a look up in the H M Woods transcripts for Walter and Ann's two children baptised before 1812 Catherine Smith bapt 14 April 1811 at Bishopwearmouth and Ann Smith bapt 4th Sept 1808 at Bishopwearmouth Any help would be wonderful. Could I also ask you how I can obtain the marriage cert for Walter as it is pre 1837 and would it show parents names? With thanks Ann Ann: Ann Smith (b) 7 Aug, (bap) 4 Sep, 1st d of Walter Smith, labr, N of Chatton, Northd by his wife Ann late Leighton N of this P Catherine Smith (b) 13 Dec 1810, (bap) 14 Apl, 2nd d of Walter Smith, labr, N of Charlton, Northd, by his wife Ann late Leighton, N of this P The abbreviations etc are as in the H M Wood transcript and may not be precisely as in the original register. However, I expect their meanings will be fairly obvious to you. Notice that Walter's birthplace is given as Chatton and as Charlton. Both are in north Northumberland, North andn South Charlton being on or near to the modern A1, between Alnwick and Belford. Chatton is a village and parish between Wooler and Belford. There is another Charlton, west of Bellingham, in north Tynedale, but in spite of that district being full of people having Charlton as their surname, it is just a single farm - most "natives of Charlton" being from North or South Charlton. There are NO marriage certificates prior to the introduction of Civil Registration on 1 July 1837. What you should seek is the parish register entry for the marriage (just as you have looked at parish register baptisms because there were no Birth Certificates before that date). The amount of detail (very little) given in entries 1754-1837 has been mentioned several times on this list, so I won't go into it all again, except to say that the names of the parents are not normally given. Very, very occasionally they might be given, especially the father of a bride who was under the age of 21 - ie a minor. If the marriage was by Licence, and not after the calling of Banns (less than 10% were) then the Bond and Allegation necessary for the Licence to be issued should be in Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections, and while that, again, will probably not mention the father, there is just a very slight possibility that it might. There are several marriage indexes and transcripts which might show the marriage of Walter and Ann (IGI/Family Search, Boyd, NDFHS Ancestral Indexes fiche, etc). My own database shows it to have been on 6 March 1808 at Bishopwearmouth. You can obtain a summary of the details from the original or from the H M Wood transcripts (Newcastle Central Library and available on microfiche from Northfiche). Geoff Nicholson