Hi, I certainly did agree with what Elizabeth said in giving her advice. I would like to add a few things. I live in America and maybe this is not true in England There are family associations out there who have worked on that family for over 100 years. They are an excellent source of information. Fees to join are usually nominal. One family that this brings to mind were original Penn Colonists. who came to America in 1862. There are probably over 1000 people who are searching for information on this family. They publish a magazine where there are articles on various finds. Believe me people do pay attention and the information is checked by many. Then sometimes a person puts information on line. In this case there were pictures of things in glass cases such as the Deed of Release from Penn along with a transcription, pictures of the Bibles that the family brought to America, and so much more. These were on ancestry and were worth the subscription. An example of what I found one time on Ancestry will make you laugh. It listed one person as having a baby at about age 67 and she died when she was 161. years old. I hope no one copied that. Don't be afraid to ask questions on the Rootsweb lists. People will help you if they can. You will probably meet some distant cousins. From one I received a picture of the log cabin that my ancestor built when he came to America in 1710. Another person sent a transcription of a Bible records that is no where on line or in any archive. I copy the birth etc. records from the LDS films if there are any. With one family I had the records for the first 3 children who were born before 1837 in England. I was debating whether I wanted to go to the expense of sending to England for the records of the other four who were born after 1837. They were siblings of my direct line ancestor. It is expensive to send for English records when one lives in America. Lo and behold the four records were on the LDS film that I was looking at for the earlier three. I did not need a certified copy. The Parish Records on the film were fine for my needs. If you don't want to pay for sites such as Ancestry, remember that they have a free trial period. Save up what you are looking for and then do a marathon search when you have the free trial period. I must say that when you do this you will probably find that you do want to subscribe. Remember that they have a lot of good records such as ship's passenger lists. I found a 1909 book that was long out of print on ancestry for one of my ancestors. I always wanted to read it but it was no longer available. At times such as around Memorial Day some sites like Ancestry give you a free week to get military records. I got one for a Revolutionary War ancestor and another for a Civil War ancestor. My advice- Go for the least expensive things first. For English ancestors you will have to rent the Parish Registers from the LDS. Join every Rootsweb list where you have ancestors. You would be surprized at what you might find there such as the Bible Records. You can go to libraries in America and most have a version of Ancestry or Heritage Quest. They are great for getting census records which really aren't always good but it at least gives you a place to look. My library not only had the American census records but also those from England. Most other information is limited but I did find a copy of the court minutes for the early Pennsylvania ancestors. It was mostly land records that I copied but there were a few things such as guardianship records there also. In America try the USGenWeb sites. Some are not very good but others have things such as wills. In one county in North Carolina the historian had digitized all of the deeds starting about 1775 and going well into the 1800s. I was able to find about 40 or a little more for my ancestors. I had debated whether to send for them and was very glad that I had not. They were free except for the paper and ink to print them. When you have tried all of the the least expensive things you will probably find that you do have to send for some things. You will find that you need them for proofs. Collect the free one's first and then you will better know what you need. Good Luck with your search. Velma