Hi everyone :) Thanks to the wonderful generosity of Susan Bampton, we now have Elizabeth's birth certificate waiting for me to purchase it online!!! :D :D :D Here's the details from Susan's email ... Elizabeth Armstrong born 1848 and registered in the Durham Northern area. The reference code for her birth certificate from the regional office is DNLAN7-389. I guess the question now is whether or not she was still in the Northern area at the time of the 1851 census. Since Michael and a lot of people from this list have tried and failed, I think perhaps she may have departed for Australia sooner than I thought. I'm now going to concentrate on finding Dorothy and John, Elizabeth's parents, as well as searching for information on when they emigrated to Australia. Would anyone know how I would go about finding shipping information? Would they have left from the Durham area, i.e. is there a port in Easington or surrounding areas? The only port I know of is Spithead, my ggGrandfather Eastley was transported from there as a convict. Any help again would be enormously appreciated!! :D Again Susan, thank you! thank you! thank you! :D Take care, Rob. IBSSG Stuttgart, Germany Honey's Home of Genealogy www.honeyshome.com