hi folks, i've been really tied up lately with only time to respond to the odd posting. I keep hoping that when i get this dealt with or that finished, I'll be able to get back to my research and transcribing, however, it doesn't seem to be happening in much of a rush. :-[ What I'd really appreciate for Xmas would be for my Beavis clan's hidden links to come out of the shadows. They settled in London SRY in the early 1820s, William may even have arrived in his teens perhaps as an apprentice joiner/cabinet maker. I've a suspicion that he originated in Hampshire. I'd love to hear from anyone who could produce that missing link. I haven't found any Wills for any of them unfortunately - a source that could prove very helpful should any come to light. WILLIAM BEAVIS b.c.1801, HAM-SRY area, settled in London as a carpenter. he married Devon lass ANN NORTHCOTT in 1823 and had 8 kids around the Wootton st / Cornwall rd area of Lambeth. By 1828, he'd turned his hand to cheesemongering and he remained so till his death in 1855. Ann kept the grocery going till her death in in 1870 all their sons became cheesemongers/grocers/pork men &c, exc ROBERT who emigrated to Australia in his late teens - the Bendigo gold rush - where he eventually married and set up a hotel. William & Ann's children Edwin b.1824; m. Mary Ann <PORTER> c.1845 Lon. James b.c.1826; m. Jane SALTER [DEV] 1852 Maria-Ann Beavis died an infant; 1828 Lambeth Alfred b.c.1830; m.Jane HOLLIDAY 1860 Lambeth ? baby b/d.c.1832 [evidence c.4yr gap between these brothers] Robert b.c.1834; m. Elizabeth Louisa GROVES bef.1860 VIC Australia Ann b.c.1837; d.bef.1841 i suspect, ?1838 Lambeth Eliza b.1839; m.Thomas George BARNES 1859 Lambeth I've successfully followed up the kids' lines but so far nothing has confirmed where exactly William was born. In the 1841 he says 'Y' b. in SRY however, in the 1851, he says b. Southampton - could be town or county :-|. I have tracked, and followed intensely, a likely HAM family but am still missing the all important paper trail that would bind them solidly together - or separately as may turn out. That research indicates that a William was born there at about the right time; to a family of carpenters; reached adulthood, ie was still alive in 1831; disappears about the time that my William pops up in London. I would really appreciate finding a source of SRY WILLS for this family. I'm sure having had their cheesemongering / grocery businesses, they must have made some arrangements for them to be passed on or sold up on their deaths. I do appreciate i might be whistling in the wind here as London was pretty well turned into charcoal during WW2 and it is possible that many records were destroyed in the bombing raids. How anything survived is little short of a miracle. All thanks to our brave airmen. APPRENTICESHIPS is another source I'd like to research if i had access in the hope that his dad would be named. Has anyone spotted a William Beavis/Bevis &c as a joiner/cabinet maker app., anywhere? I'd be happy to share my research with others researching any of my forebears, their relatives or offshoots. I have found a few entries in the London Gazette relating to this family and am considering ways of accessing any archived records that may be extant in relation to these entries. By a circuitous route, my own branch of Beavis's landed up in Kingston & West Horsely SRY early to mid 1900s Hope you all get your xmas wishes :-) all the very best in the coming year le durachd Fionnghal