I should certainly order the film Ann and take your time to go through it carefully. With luck, you might be able to trace your family back through several generations, births, marriages and deaths. Sometimes helpful additional information is given, sometimes just the bare facts, but slowly a picture should build up. Be glad your ancestors were not called Greenwood or some other common Halifax name, as then it is almost impossible to be sure that you have the correct person! Can you read the names of the witnesses on your 1849 marriage certificate? Sometimes a brother or sister or other close relative was a witness, which would help confirm that you have the correct family in 1841. Getting Rachel's death certificate might show that she was the widow of Thomas, and one of her children may have reported the death. Small clues but they add up. Pre 1837 it is harder to be sure of your facts, but if you get every clue you can, and use the LDS facilities, not to mention the Yorkshire surnames site, and sites such as Genes re-united, you can get back. Good luck Margaret Switzerland On 17 Apr 2008, at 04:46, Ann Burns wrote: Hello listers I am looking for suggestions on where/how to look farther back in time for my SUNDERLAND ancestors in Yorkshire (Halifax to Bradford and Bingley). As I am in Canada my searching has been limited to Internet resources up to this point in time. I seem to have run out of appropriate certificates to order and I have not found any sources earlier than the 1841 census. The IGI has some potentially helpful information about birthdates but for now I can't verify that I found the right folks. The family does not have a consistent history of church affiliation butit does seem like everyone was baptised at that time. An LDS microfilmcontains "Bishop's transcripts of Halifax parish registers from 1600 to1879". It seems like my most useful next resource but wonder if therewould be enough information to verify that I've found the folks I'm lookingfor. I have the marriage certificate of my 2nd great grandparents, Joseph Sunderland and Ann Stansfield - both born in 1828, in Halifax. They married in Halifax on 16 Sept 1849. Joseph's father was named Thomas Sunderland and Ann's father was James Stansfield. Might the parish register have something not on the certificate from the GRO? The 1841 England census shows a Sunderland family, headed by a Rachel (possibly widowed), living in Halifax. Son Joseph was the right age - listed as age 12 in 1841 (close enough). The names of the children correspond with names used in the family through subsequent generations. The IGI has the marriage of a Thomas Sunderland to a Rachel Wood in 1817 - which also fits this family as Rachel's oldest son was 22 yrs old in 1841, and thus would have been born 1 to 2 years after that marriage. I have not yet ordered the LDS microfilm (referenced above) from which this marriage information was extracted. Could I reasonably expect to verify from that film, that I have the correct Thomas Sunderland (and Rachel Wood) as I have no idea of their parents names? Any pointers/opinions would be much appreciated. Ann Burns Ottawa ON Canada ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-YKS- BRADFORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message