THIS is a reposting, folks, because my first message appears to have disintegrated somewhere in cyberspace! Apologies, then, if it appears twice... ROY STOCKDILL - one of the earliest members of this list. Chairman, the London Group of the Yorkshire Consortium of Family History Societies and various other roles in the UK genealogical world (see my signature below); living in Hertfordshire for the past 38 years. Born in Bradford, as was my father, 3 of my 4 grandparents, and 3 of my 8 gt-grandparents (others moved to Bradford in the 19th century for work). On the 1881 census, all of my 8 great-grandparents, with the exception of one gt-grandmother who died in 1878, were in Bradford. I posted many lengthy messages about the history and social history of Bradford in the early days of the list, for which see the archives at rootsweb. These included a great many names, also descriptions of social conditions in Bradford mills and houses in the 19th century, and of the many institutions in the life of the city. About 80% of my ancestry and heritage is in Bradford and I have numerous books on the city, so I suppose I am almost a "resident expert" here! My gt-grandfather ROBERT STOCKDILL(DALE) arrived in Bradford from Easingwold, North Yorkshire (where he was born in 1806), probably some time in the 1830s and died there in 1896. He was married 4 times and had many children by 3 of his wives. All the Stockdills (but not necessarily Stockdales) in Bradford are related to me. Robert's 4th wife (and my gt-grandmother) was Charlotte WORSNOP, born at Scarborough in 1823 but I feel fairly certain the Worsnops were a Bradford family also. They were found extensively at Wibsey and Low Moor. Andrew YOUNG, my other paternal gt-grandfather, was a West Country weaver from Gloucestershire/Somerset who moved to Bradford to find work in the 1870s. My other connections..... MIDGLEY (one of the most common Bradford names), my mother's ancestry. My Midgleys go back in Bradford well into the 18th century (the earliest I can reasonably confidently trace is my gt-gt-gt-grandfather John Midgley, probably baptised at Horton Lane Independent Chapel in 1792, son of another John Midgley and Sarah SWAINE). John jr became a drummer in the 52rd Regt of Foot and married Jane PLEVIN from Nantwich in Cheshire. My gt-grandfather, yet another John MIDGLEY (it's like John Smith in Bradford!) married Clara BRACEWELL, b. in Bradford 1861, dau. of Richard Bracewell who had moved to Bradford from Arncliffe in the Yorkshire Dales and became a hansom cab driver. GIBSON - my gt-grandfather JOHN JAMES GIBSON was born in York in 1857 but moved to Bradford and became a master signwriter. He married... Ada BRADLEY, dau. of Thomas BRADLEY, a Bradford railway worker. Thomas's wife was Sarah MOODY, about whom I know very little other than that she was born in Bradford about 1822. In earlier generations, I also have the name BROOK from Pudsey (also very common in the Bradford area). Roy Stockdill (Editor, Journal of One-Name Studies) SoG Executive & Director of Projects, FFHS Guild of One-Name Studies:- www.one-name.org Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History:- www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html Never ask a man if he comes from Yorkshire. If he does he will tell you, if he does not why humiliate him? - Canon Sydney Smith