Hi all I am sure that 1837online.com is probably on the level, but I wish they wouldn't do things like this. It engenders in my mind the old fears of buying from some second-hand used car salesmen! You can search for free on their website for a surname within a certain period of time - usually within a 10 year search - or an individual name, if you wish (which appears to be the St. Catherine's Index). They generally come up with a list that possibly gives your surname, but may not. i.e. I put in searching for Peate (mind you the extra e on the end!) births 1947-1957 and got results which read: Jul-Aug-Sep 1947 PEAT, Janet - PEEL, Daphne G, which means 1947 PEAT alphabetical right up to PEEL, and Jan-Feb-Mar 1950 PEAT, Melinda - PEEL, Sandra M, etc., but which absolutely gives no guarantee that you will find what you are looking for. Of course, then comes up the next image VIEW, which means you go to the next page and VIEW and then have to PAY FOR viewing something that you are blindfolded against! Walking in the dark. And my goodness, no genealogist that I know ever wants to walk in the dark! I am not overly knocking this website for it probably works well for many genealogists, but I just need to understand what this all about - why charge people for something they may not find? That is the acute question. Now, National Archives will give their records over to 1837online.com as of April 20th, so are we going to find the same sort of troubles with the new records? Just wondering. Perhaps the simple answer is that 1837online.com needs to update their software to accommodate this problem so that if I put in Andrew Peate born 1947 and it comes up on the page, making me very excited, THEN I will put my money where my mouth is and pay for it. Seems a sensible solution, does it not? Just can't understand why they cannot see it! PS. I have also tried this with individual names and exact dates of birth with no joy. Cheers Graham Melbourne Oz