Barbara and Gary and all, Thank you so much for the lookups. You might guess that I dabble in genealogy with my long list of surnames at the end of my message. I wasn't expecting a lookup for all of them! All the English names are from my ancestors in Yorkshire, where I was born, though we emigrated to the States when I was seven months old. I had heard that MEDFORTH was an East Yorkshire name, and I guess your information bears that up. Also of great interest to me was your mention of the name BRANTON as having to do with a raven, because that part of Yorkshire is located on the Holderness Peninsula on the North Sea, once known as the German Sea before the Great War. The coast has been eroding away since ancient times (there is a site that shows how much has gone since the Romans -- see site below) and many of the towns that were once there are now IN the sea. I counted 31 villages lost, on the map. Many of the little churches with very very old headstones have been falling away, lost forever, and there are stories told in the area that at certain times, people have heard the bells of the submerged churches ringing under the water. Two of the towns in that place were called Ravenspurn and Ravenser Odd, and are now gone, washed away. Lots of Brantons there -- so I guess there must have been ravens. <A HREF="http://online.stcharles.ac.uk/courses/geog_leis/geography/alevel/coastal/CoastalErosion.pdf"> http://online.stcharles.ac.uk/courses/geog_leis/geography/alevel/coastal/Coasta lErosion.pdf</A> Do you think I should get hold of the director, Cameron, to do a special on the lost towns of East Yorkshire ;>) ? Might be fascinating! I just saw on television the other night a special on the chariot and woman of this same part of Yorkshire, who were found buried in ceremonial style -- she with her chariot buried on top of her, and I found it the most extraordinary story. She predates Bodacea, who fought the Roman in her chariot, by about two hundred years, and she was Celtic -- it was at Wetwang that all this was discovered. It was such a wonderful show. They analyzed all the parts of the chariot, and then went about reconstructing it, bringing into the project a specialist in historic metalwork from Wales, a specialist in knots from another part of England, and a master wheelwright who built the wheels of the chariot in the same way the people of her time would have built them. It was a superbly made program. What an undertaking. And speaking of name origins, so many of the town of this area were Viking in origin: Cottingham (the home of Cotta's people -- Cotta was a Viking chief), York, all the villages ending in "by". Thank you for letting me run on. I hope I haven't strayed off topic. As the list doesn't generate a lot of mail, I thought it would be all right and of interest. I really appreciate the information posted and thank you again. You are wonderful! Kindest regards, Brigitte Begue Hartke in sunny, snowy Clifton, Virginia In Yorkshire, England: CARRICK - Easington, Aldbrough, East Riding (may have been CARROTT in 1600s) CASTLE - Owthorne, East Riding MEDFORTH - Kilnsea STAPLES - Out Newton, Easington BRIDE - Kilnsea BARNES - Kilnsea FRANCIS - Easington BRANTON, Isabell - 1715 Easington area HARRISON, Charlotte - (1779) father was probably Charles Harrison of Kilnsea WEBSTER - back to 1702 Easington FOSTER - late 1600s Easington ROBINSON - Bridlington WAITES - Bridlington BEANLAND - around Bradford, Yorkshire to 1400s In France: BEGUE - Toulouse, France QUIRIN - Alsace-Lorraine, France STROHL - Alsace Lorraine, France LE GALL - Brittany, France Every time an old one dies, a library burns to the ground. Old African saying "A man must keep his mouth open a long time before a roast pigeon flies into it."