Dear Cousins and Friends, You've seen the notes I took at the 2008 Sisson Gathering. I inadvertently made mistakes in my cousin Susan Blake's section. Here it is again, this time with the corrections. Sorry, Sue! David Arne Sisson Susan Ashley Blake: Carol Sisson Regehr introduced Susan as a second cousin once removed of David Arne Sisson. His grandfather and her great grandfather were brothers. Susan related how David and Carol wrote her about 18 months ago, about the possibility that Robert Sisson of Virginia came from Horncastle, Lincolnshire, and Richard Sisson of Rhode Island from Sutton-cum-Lound, Nottinghamshire. Horncastle and Sutton-cum-Lound are about 70 miles apart . Susan did some research in parish registers. They were kept by the state-established Church of England, beginning in 1538, recording baptisms, marriages, and burials. At various times there were charges to have names entered in registers, so some names were never recorded. (But Quaker beliefs and practices did not become common until after both Richard and Robert had come to America.) Susan has found many Sisson entries in the registers of both Horncastle and Sutton-cum-Lound, but none that definitively establishes connections to Richard or Robert. There are 40 villages within five miles of Sutton-cum-Lound, and their parish records should all be searched. Very few are available online. Early parish registers are in 16^th -century script which is very difficult to read. In the early years, most parish registers were transcribed for their bishops, and the Mormon indexes are based on those transcripts. They can be seen online at http://tinyurl.com/5dwv89. (This address is easier to reach than by clicking through the http://FamilySearch.org <http://familysearch.org/> site.). To find out where parish records are now located, contact www.nationalarchives.gov.uk Susan noted that the highest concentration of religious dissenters occurred in the Sisson areas of eastern England, and especially in “the heartland of Mayflower origins.” Despite modern belief, the Pilgrims were mostly willing to conform to church and king. Susan found some ships' lists of emigrants/immigrants to America. They needed to be attending a Church of England parish, to recognize the supremacy of the king, and owe no taxes. She also found two censuses of Virginia Company immigrants alive & dead, listed according to where they were living.