Fellow W(h)ales researchers ... Based on the info I was sent by our dear full-time researcher Suzannah ;o) I have delved a bit further into the origins of the W(h)ales families. And I have possibly discovered some interesting facts, which unfortunately came form the Family Search website, and therefor need to be verified by baptism records and such. However ... The earliest marriage mentioned in Suzannah's info was that of John Whales and Mary Edgerton, married 05 Nov 1704 at St. John's Margate. Suzannah knows of one son named John, whose birth she estimated at 1705. Looking for John's birth at the FS website I found him, bapt. 8 Dec 1706 at St. John's. The records further showed that John and Mary had (at least) 3 other children: Nathaniel ((1713) Mary (1718) and William (1718). Mary and William were baptised on the same day, which might have made them twins. Back-tracking even further I found a John Whale who was baptised 07 Nov 1680 at Monkton, Thanet. Normally I would dismiss such info as the two places are pretty far apart, but this John was the son of ... Nathaniel Whale! His mother was mentioned as Sarah. I then found a marriage for a Nathaniel WAYHALL with Sarah Knatt on 12 April 1680 at Minster on Thanet. It is a very short leap from the pronunciation of Wayhall to Whale. At least I feel pretty good about this. And Minster and Monkton are fairly close to eachother. Also, there are several other marriages listed in Minster for the names Whales, Walls and Wales. John was obviously born either VERY premature, or it was a so-called 'shotgun' wedding. Another possibility, which did occur in those times, was that Nathaniel first wanted to be sure that his future wife could bear children. I haven't found any other children yet, but who knows. Does anybody care to comment on this supposition of mine? Warm regards, Kya Milo --------------------------------- Get amazing travel prices for air and hotel in one click on Yahoo! FareChase