Hi John, <snip> My great grandparents emigrated to NZ in 1860 from the Forest of Dean. This is what I know. My Hopkins great great grandparents were: Thomas Hopkins (m) Sarah Powel (no other details known) My great grandparents were William Hopkins (m) Sarah Ann Joseph Sarah Powel was a child of Thomas Joseph (m) Ann Cullis William Hopkins was born 8 Mar 1835, Gloucester (I think he may have been born in Lydney). Sarah Powel was born 6 Mar 1837, Lidbrook. <snip> You might want to try looking at Gordon Beavington's transcription of the 1851 census of Gloucestershire. It is free on the web at http://www.rootsweb.com/~cotswold/GLSontheweb.htm I had a quick look and found these - looks like your JOSEPHs. Didn't find your HOPKINS family, but you should be able to work through the various areas of the forest of Dean and find them. Have a look in the name index first. This shows you the names of the heads of families - and which census return they featured in. Then scroll further down (you may have to click on the heading to see this bit - had me flummoxed for a long time!) and look at the areas you have identified as possible. COLEFORD 1851 Census Gloucestershire COPYRIGHT P.R.O. Reference # HO 107/2444 SECTION II More of the Tything of Coleford in the Parish of Newland Pages 43 Persons 406 Male 442 Female 848 Total Enumerator George Porter 83 BLAYDON says BAYLDON John 37 Mstr. Of Arts Yorkshire Roystone Elizabeth 33 Somerset St Michael Daniel 4 St Michael Thomas 3 son Wanstone John 2 Wanstone Francis 9m Wanstone BARRICK Elizabeth Servant 22 Coleford JOSEPH Sarah Servant 14 ? Coleford 88 JOSEPH Thomas 76 Clerk Radnor ++ Ann 40 Coleford Martha 12 Coleford Lewis 8 Coleford Thomas 5 Coleford William 2 Coleford <snip> I would be interested to hear from anyone who is researching this family, and would particularly like to know where the Hopkins family came from in Wales as we are visiting Wales later this year. <snip> As Thomas JOSEPH is shown as born in Radnorm, that looks like a good place to start looking for your JOSEPH family in Wales. Hope this helps start you off. Cheers Helen in Wellington --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.490 / Virus Database: 289 - Release Date: 16/06/2003