Just as a matter of interest are you sure that the place of the first born > was at Sheffield. Because my chum went on a goose chase to Yorkshire when he > needed to be at SHELFIELD which is a village just north east of Walsall. it > was a mining area. There had been a poor transcription from other records. > > Looking to find the marriage of a James THACKER (b. 1842-3 Staffordshire d. > 1909 Wrockwardine Wood) to Mary RICHARDS (b. 1845 Shifnal).  First child > born in 1868 in Sheffield.  No trace of marriage found in Yorkshire so > hoping that someone has details ofa marriage in Shropshire. I was thinking that if you can find James & Mary in 1911 census it would say how long they were married which should narrow the marriage timeframe down a bit. That said, I couldn't find them! Mary may have died in the June qtr of 1905 and James in March qtr 1909 (reg Wellington). From the other censuses I can see a triangle of movement between STS, SAL & WRY. Then in 1911 I appear to have found sons back in WRY (in Doncaster). As the first for or five children were all born in YKS it is definitely YKS and not Shelfield (but good thinking). BTW The IGI suggests the marriage took place in about 1865 in Shifnal, but then it is a patron entry which is probably just a best guess based on the dates of children's births and Mary's home parish. Sherry Landa Oxford, UK