Diane I cannot help you with any of the Bells in your note but my ancestor William Mais (1792-1865), who lived in East Cowton, kept a notebook for several years in which he recorded local births, marriages and deaths. Amongst these is a reference that a Thomas Bell of Great Smeaton died on Wednesday 17/1/1849 aged 72 years with a note that he was assistant to W and J Mais, who were William's sons. I thought that this may be of interest. Cheers Howard Mais Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 11:58:37 -0000 From: "Diane Johansen" <lizzy.johansen@btinternet.com> Subject: [ENG-NORTH-YORKS] BELL, Hornby nr Great Smeaton To: <eng-north-yorks@rootsweb.com> Message-ID: <A9DD1261CF1B4905BF3627858C892163@Office> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" William George BELL was born in Hornby, near Gt. Smeaton, in 1827. He was son to James BELL by his wife Margaret (STEPHENSON). At some point he married Sophia THOMPSON (born Louth, Lincs about 1824) though I have not managed to find a suitable marriage (despite looking at all name variations and locations!) On the 1851 Hornby Census William and Sophia are living with their daughter Emma, age 1. William was a grocer and cabinet maker in the village. I sent off for Emma's birth certificate and from this I found out that her full name was Emma Stephenson BELL, she was born in August 1849 and that her mother, Sophia, was previously THOMPSON. I would be interested in any baptism for Emma at Great Smeaton around that time and any suggestions of where to start looking to find out what happened to the family after 1851 because they disappear! Many thanks! Diane Johansen Researching BELL, Gt. Smeaton, Middleton-on-Leven, Yarm, Ingleby Arncliffe