In a message dated 03/03/2008 19:20:39 GMT Standard Time, [email protected] writes: James Howson was born ~1791, location ?? . His wife was called Hannah. They had 3 children, William b. 1823, Hannah b. 1825 and Sarah b. 1830, all in Sheffield. Am I correct in thinking that all the relevant birth and marriage records should be with the local parish records ? I will be visiting the Borthwick in York in 2 weeks time and would like to know which records to call up in readiness for my visit. Can anyone help please ? Hi I think you will need to go to the Sheffield Archive Office for these records. However, you would need to know what Parish they were in so that you can establish which church records you need to look up. I had a look at the 1841 census for you and I see that they lived in Lanbourne Square, Solly Street. Only Hannah is living with them in this census but I would imagine that william had left home to work. Sarah could have been with other relations or could have died. There are two possible churches for these. The first if St. Peter's church [now the Cathedral] or St. George's church. There was also a Catholic Church called St. Vincent on Solly Street, so do you know if they were Catholic. I would certainly ask about these records before you set off. The Cathedral records are not all kept at the record office and some are still in the Crypt. Good Hunting regards JUDY ELKINGTON [W.R.Yorkshire, England] www.elkingtonfamily.com [email protected] www.one-name.org/profiles/elkington.html