Jean, If you have easy access to the censuses, track all the Joseph Graingers. Then you may be able to exclude the others, leaving yours behind. There is also another reason for doing this. There may in deed be a relationship between the many GRAINGERs, since sibling brothers may pass on their names to their own children and repeat through genearations. Therefore this technique may not be a waste of time. Are there many other GRAINGERs in the area, if not the likelyhood of this being the case increases? -- Mike Yegwart Bromsgrove Branch Chairman BMSGH bmsgh.org > <I'm really stuck! Can anyone come up with any suggestions on what I > may be able > <to do? > > <I am trying to trace the father and siblings of Joseph Grainger born > abt 1825, > <Dudley. He married Rosannah Heath in 1849 in Tipton, he was a miner > and on the > <marriage certificate his father is Joseph who was a nailor. I thought > I had > <found the family by matching back from the 1861 to the 1851 and 1841 > census. I > <though it looked like his mother was Susannah and he had brothers > Daniel and > <William. This seemed to fit because on one of the later censuses > there is a > <Daniel living next door. However, I then realised that if he married > in 1847 he > <would not be living at home on 1851 census without wife Rosannah. I'm > really > <stuck because there are about 3 joseph grainger's born abt 1825 in > and around > <Dudley. > > <There are several on family search but again I can't think of any way to > differenciate between them. > > > Hi Jean, > Have you thought about searching for wills, as a last resort I always > look to see what I can find and they either will help link or > eliminate people. I have searched nearly all WYER wills I could find > and it helped me piece all my family together. > If you want to have a look this is the address for searching the > National Archives: > > http://www.documentsonline.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ > > just use the quick search and the advanced search on the left hand side. > This will was on the National Archives site: > > Will of Daniel Grainger of Rowley Regis , Staffordshire 22 August 1848 > PROB 11/2079 > > He may be not related and there are a few more in neighbouring areas > but at £3.50 to download it's worth looking if you really want to try > to go further, always remember to try different spellings though. > > All the best > Lynn Paterson > researching: WYER all areas > > ______________________________