On 2013/04/13 09:22, Caroline Bradford wrote: > Birth certificates did not exist until 1 July 1837. For ancestors born before > that date you will have to rely on an entry in a baptismal register which may > or may not show his actual date of birth. Did James marry? If so, you can > get his father's name from his marriage certificate. Then you need to head > off to SEAX, the online arm of the ERO, where for a small fee you can browse > the relevant registers. All good advice. However. Just a note of caution. Given the time period concerned, it is more than likely that any marriage took place before July 1837. In which case, the OP has the same problem as he has with the birth certificate. Also, and I think this is right, fathers names and occupations don't appear in parish registers until the advent of Civil Registration in 1837. -- Regards, Mike Fry Johannesburg