Sarah Middleton wrote >I don't know the name of Jane SIMMONDS father, so am stuck with my >SIMMONDS branch. Have you not been able to find her birth in the GRO indexes. Obviously, her having been born in London or Portsmouth or Sussex rather complicates the issue, but hopefully there wouldn't be too many possibilities. If her birthday is given consistently as 1852 in the censuses, then it is more than likely that she was born in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th quarters of 1851 or the first quarter of 1852. If you can find her birth and get a Certificate, you will probably get her father's name - less likely if she was illegitimate. By the way, when you say you can't find a record of her marriage in the GRO indices, where have you been looking? I recently found no record of a marriage when looking at the relevant GRO index image on Ancestry, but then went to Findmyfamily and *did* find it! -- Jenny M Benson