On 15/09/2010 10:21, Richard Gibb wrote: > Good morning Listers, > Not sure if this will reach anyone - I logged a request several weeks ago and have not received a single comment from anywhere. > But here goes- An ancestor was Born& Baptized in Quilan Madras Presidency in 1807 > The mother of my ancestor was mentioned in the Baptism record (Brit Library) as Maria Tressenah (deceased). I have lately discovered that the name Tressenah could be Trezinha or Terzinha possibly of Portuguese or Indo/Portuguese origin. > Where can I search for a possible marriage between this lady and my ancestor who was serving with the 2nd Bn. 6th Regt. Madras Native Infantry (HEIC Army) at the time ? > Richard > Early Indian records are not indexed as well as later years. The LDS beta site has improved matters by including quite a lot more, but nonetheless quite a few records I have found are still not indexed there or at the BL. Assuming you have exhausted the online resources, you need to go back to the British Library. Hard work comes next I'm afraid. But rewarding if you succeed. You should try the bound written indexes to Madras BMD as they contain material that still may not be online. These are on the left just after you enter the reading room. Some things found in there are not in the BL online facility or old IGI searches, although some have appeared on the new LDS site. After that you can try looking through the films. One reason for the indexes being brief is that not all the registers have been indexed. To find what you want is hard work - sitting down with the film at the BL and going through frame by frame. They are very hard to decipher and it is maddening, you keep thinking you may have missed something. Of course it may not even be there. Thankfully I had a friend who was very thorough and proved very good at hunting things down. You do not mention the rank of your ancestor. In my experience, especially when you go back to 1800, officers have the most details recorded, NCOs next, rank and file last of all. That applies to military and civil records. Another place to look, for officers, is the contemporary periodicals, these seem to start up around late 18th century. For example, there is the Asiatic Annual Register, 1799 onwards. Also I have found NCOs (sergt. major) marriages listed in Bengal Past and Present during the 1790s. I'm assuming you can get to the BL. If not, you can still identify the relevant films and borrow them through the LDS. Cheers Simon.