Hi Kathleen Many thanks for confirming my theory. I obviously was pursuing the wrong Bellingers (South Hayling). Hi Steve Thanks for the advice. Yes I have come across examples of people giving the wrong ages but in this instance I was fairly certain that I had unearthed two families in the area with daughters about the same age and with the same name ... not unusual I know ... and I was following the wrong line. That can be a problem when you are researching from a distance and only have access to either incomplete or limited records. However, that situation is improving all the time as more and more records appear on websites and other people on lists like this are willing to do look ups. Gill