Hi all Back in the early 1990s I transcribed over a period of several years all I could find from PRs, BTs, SFHS transcripts of baptisms, marriages and burials for a large number of families connected to my Price surname at Ellesmere. Recently a lister enquiring about the Reeves family of Ellesmere sparked me into putting these on an Excel database (didn't have Excel in the 1990s) so out came all the A4 folders containing my transcriptions. Now I have taken the bit between my teeth and am determined to do Excel databases for all my families at Ellesmere, which ought to take me to the end of the year or even into 2007. So far, having done Reeves, Rodenhursts (which were fairly small compared to some) I am currently on the Higginson folk. It's fascinating after all these years to go back to these transcripts and see drama being played out. The Higginsons came into the parish around 1630s, flourished for a while, then virtually disappeared - only a couple of families left by the time of the 1901 census. Most seemed to disappear early 1800s. So far, from 1635 I have 21 marriages, 63 baptisms and only 36 burials, so the move was on to spread far and wide. It is interesting to see how families intermarried around the district and sad to see families losing a number of children so close in time, due no doubt to influenza epidemics, etc. Some Higginsons were gentry, but most were labourers, though all appear to have come from the same source. Anyway, my project (am I mad?) for the future is to do all these interconnected families on Excel, which include, Bickley, Batho, Bather, Boylin, Cross, Cureton, Davies, Hassall, Hayward, Hudson, Mason, Morgan, Peate, Phillips, Price, Mullinex (Molyneaux), Parry, Reeves, Rodenhurst, Warburton. The Davies family frightens me a little, as it is massive in the district! Some other unconnected families I took down for other folk were Carsley, Clay, Onslow, Owen. Might as well do them too. I also intend to cover the other churches in the district, such as Duddleston, Welshampton, Cockshut. This should keep me quiet for a very long time. Want to bet? Cheers Graham Melbourne