Thanks Chris for the idea. Someone sent me an 1881 listing of a RANCE family in Brighton Surrey, which is a possability but that too appears to be a dead end. As far as I know he had no middle name but his son was named William John. I am going to see if I can get a read out of the 1871 census to maybe find his family there. Also he,at one point on a form, indicated his mothers maiden name was ANNIE TYE. Again no luck. Thanks for trying. Ken ----- Original Message ----- From: "cpounder" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 3:36 PM Subject: Re: [PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT] William Rant >I too have had a good look for William and most William Rants on the 1881 > cen' and FreeBMD seem to come from the Norfolk or Lincoln areas of > England. > > Have you looked under a variant or a mis-transcription : Rand, Grant or > simular? > > Did William have other forenames ? As people often used their second or > even > their third name all their lives. > > In my own tree I have a Miriam Ivy known all her life as Ivy, Beeley's > transcribed on one census as Bailey. > Also James Quew my G/Granddad, was known as James Jubber for most of his > life before he married. This was because his father (James Quew) died when > he was a baby and his mother remarried Jonathon Jubber > > Just a few idea's > > Chris P NZ :-) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the > message >