In a message dated 16/06/2004 01:03:26 GMT Daylight Time, christine1945@blueyonder.co.uk writes: I am looking for Ann YATES born about 1777 in Barnard Castle . . Remember that spelling was not standardised until c1900. What you know as Yates could be in the baptism regosters as Yeats. Barnard Castle itself had not only the parish church but an Independent Church (founded 1801: existing registers begin 1806) and a Methodist one (circuit registers begin 1803), all with pre-1837 registers, though they begin too late for your purposes. If the family were Roman Catholics they might appear in the Lartington RC registers (within the C of E parish of Romaldkirk, further up the Dale, on the then Yorkshire side. Also, and probably more important, remember that there was a considerable Quaker presence in Teesdale. You might find them in Quaker records. Try Durham County Record Office for Quaker (Society of Friends) Monthly Meeting records. . . People often, even today, say "Barnard Castle" when they mean "the general Barnard Castle district" and at the time you refer to all that district on the south of the Tees was in the North Riding of Yorkshire. My advice is therefore (a) look in Yorkshire and (b) look for Yeats. . . Geoff Nicholson . 57 Manor Park, Concord, WASHINGTON, Tyne & Wear NE37 2BU Ask for details of NBL/DUR family history research in depth by THE local expert, working for YOU.