Hi Everyone, I did so well with my last request to the Staffordshire List I thought I might try this big, big unsolvable mystery. John Meddings born 1773 Blymhill hopefully married Martha someone around 1800/1799? It is the marriage and the surname of Martha I would love to find. They had Thomas c. 4.4.1801 Church Eaton - married died Wolverhampton The rest were at Blymhill Mary c. 14.1.1805 married died Wolverhampton Martha c. 14.8.1807 died as a teenager Blymhill John c. 2.4.1810 married died Victoria, Aus. (mine) Ann c. 31.10.1812 married died Staffordshire Sarah c. 25.10.1815 married died Staffordshire William c 28 July 1818 married died NZ George c. March 1822 married died NZ - no issue survived. On the 1841 census Martha is listed as not born in the County however, a William Meddings (a distant cousin) is also shown as this but he is on 1851 as born Wheaton Aston so I am not confident she was really born outside Staffordshire. Sadly neither John or Martha made the 1851 census. I have her death certificate, her age off the headstone in St Mary's Church, Blymhill. I have searched the Church Eaton records (by hand here at our State Library and on "FamilySearch") for any Martha born around 1779 and accounted for all of them. (There are none in Blymhill.) Hopefully, I have checked every version of Meddings and I have not found any possible marriage. Given the Meddings family for generations have popped over to Shropshire on a regular basis I think it is possible the marriage might be there somewhere. My aunt told me the Meddings family had something to do with the Pitman's shorthand but it was a secret. She was not given to that sort of thing so I thought Martha's name might be Pitman so I have tried that combination without any success as well. John's parents were Walter Meddings and Ann Nichols. Walter had a couple of children with different ladies before he married Ann and she re-married a man with a given name of Thomas when he died so, it is possible that Thomas, the probable first child, is named after the stepfather. There was no child named Walter in the family because one of Walter's "other children" carried that name. John had sisters Martha (died as a child), Ann, Betty (Elizabeth after Walter's mother), Dorothy (after Ann's mother) and Mary and brothers Thomas born 1779 (know nothing about him) and William born 1764. John did have an aunt Sarah but it is possible she died well before he was born. Regards, Irene (Melbourne Australia)