Hello Hugh, Thank you, I'm sure you've solved the mystery! Another WIDDY who really wasn't. Since posting my message I've had another look through the censuses and there are a few WIDDY variations in Yorkshire over the years, which I will investigate further. Another kind lister (thank you, Peter) told me that there are no WIDDYs in a fairly recent phone number index, but over 130 WADDYs. So far the only confirmed WIDDYs are my husband's ancestors and I think they might originally have been something else too. Perhaps Withey or Whitty, and likely from Ireland, although the WIDDY spelling stuck with Charles, who came to Australia. Charles and his three known brothers were born in different parts of Wales and their mother was Welsh, but their father Michael is a mystery man, recorded variously on the baptisms of his children as a Foreigner, a Pedlar and a Gardener. No other records have been found for him and he seems to have died before 1841 (he wasn't around for the census, nor is there a death record in the GRO indexes), certainly before 1849 when his wife was recorded as a widow on her death certificate. Anyway. I'm getting sidetracked again. Many thanks for taking the time and trouble to look, and I'm sure you're right! It helps just as much to know they weren't WIDDYs as to know they were, if that makes any sense. Cheers, Loretta <Just found this in the White's 1871 Directory, indexed at http://sheff-indexers.thewholeshebang.org Waddy, Isaiah D. (Auctionr.). 1 Bank Street Bank Buildings There are twin sons of Isaiah Danks WADDY buried 8 Sep 1870 in the General Cemetery (Sharrow). Home address Crescent Road, Sharrow. The grave owner, listed at http://www.gencem.org/ was 'Rev L.D. WADDY.' In 1881 Isaiah D. WADDY, auctioneer & valuer, is boarding in Littlehampton, Sussex. (Samuel Danks WADDY, possibly a brother of Isaiah, was elected an MP in Sheffield in a by-election in 1879 but lost in the General Election in 1880; he later became MP for Edinburgh; retired from polotics 1894 and became a County Court Judge in Sheffield). So the evidence so far suggests the 1873 reference relates to a WADDY rather than a WIDDY. It is very likely that the sale would have been advertised in the local newspapers which should confirm the name of aucutioneer. Hugh>