Thank you Geoff for your reply and comments. I have looked at the originals in this case and feel confident in this case to move back on this line of Pearts. Growing up in the north east i came upon the surname a number of times but when i started family history i realised how common it was in Weardale. I have a lot of Weardale ancestors and connect with a number of these well established families that appear in the first few pages of the Stanhope parish registers..e.g Collingwoods, Emmersons and Watsons.. I also descend from other families that arrived in the 1700s Aytons, Moralees, Fairlesses etc.... Accessing Northumberland and Durham wills online has been a great asset for us all. I have been reading the wills of families in certain localities to try and discover links between them all. It has been very worthwhile so far. Yours John Sent from my iPad