In a message dated 05/08/2007 09:25:27 GMT Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: Trying to find the parents of Jane Ann Fish, born 1863 in Stockton, father Thomas a weaver. There is no record of her in the 1871 census. Although there is a Thomas Fish wife Ann in Stockton but can't find any record of Jane belonging to this family. In 1881 she is working as a servant in Norton Road. She married John Harland in 1885. The obvious/standard/"official", way to discover about the birth, parentage etc of anyone born after 1 July 1837 is to seek their birth certificate, first by identifying it via the GRO indexes (on line via Ancestry.co.uk or, effectively so, via FreeBMD: in each case "free to view") and then by purchasing a copy from either the FRC or else, cheaper, via the local registrar. I notice you don't mention having tried this yet. If you have not then I strongly recommend you to do so. Having been compiled for "population" purposes, it is a little closer to family history research than is the census, wihch was compiled for other reasons. Geoff Nicholson