In a message dated 27/09/2007 18:10:23 GMT Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: I am interested in the name Gates late 1800's of Byers Green. Pete: How late 1800s? Have you looked at the censuses? There is one for every year ending in a "1" from 1801 onwards, although individuals began to be mentioned only in 1841. Owing to the 100-year confidentiality untertaking, the 1901 census is the latest one to be available. Up to then the enumerators' notebooks can be looked at. They are available in many places on microfilm and facsimiles or indexed transcripts (beware inaccurate transcripts!) are available on many commercial web-sites, usually on a county basis. Family History Societies usually publish indexes (booklets, CDs or microfiche) to those for their own districts: again, they are of variable quality, those most are quite good. Not all censuses/districts have been indexed, though. Otherwise you may have to rely on either civil registration certificates or church registers. You can order certificates on-line after using the GRO indexes, which are freely available. Church of England registers for that 19th century have usually been deposited in Durham County Record Office (see their web-site) and that is also a good "first stop" when seeking the registers of other denominations. They record baptisms (not births, although the birth date is sometimes given), marriages (a post-1837 marriage entry is effectively the same as a civil marriage certificate) and burials (not deaths). Other sources that could be helpful include Wills, Monumental Inscriptions (ie gravestones), court records, newspapers, etc, etc, and in all cases Durham County Record Office could be the place to look for them. If you are new to family history and to the unique history of Co Durham (formerly the County Palatine of Durham), then why not become a member of either (or both) the Northumberland and Durham Family History Society or the Cleveland, South Durham and North Yorkshire Family History Society? Try Googling for their web-sites. Geoff Nicholson