Peter, Thank you very much for responding. Just to let you know that we have almost all BMD certificates for this family. To keep the post from getting too long, I just told the story, but did not advise all of the secondary sources that we had looked at in the past, i.e., Ancestry, FindMyPast, FreeBMD (covered all of the British Isles using a 15 year spread), Familysearch, several appropriate forums, GOONS - and the list goes on! Never used 'exact matches'. Of course, I was hoping that someone on the list might recognize the names or the story. Best wishes June > > From: "Peter R Booth" <pbo08596@bigpond.net.au> > Subject: Re: [SXP] Henry HART/HAYDEN b. 1853 > > June, > > Assuming you have the right person, it sounds like a typical case of > getting a girl pregnant, running away and then moving constantly to stay one > step ahead of rumours, in-laws, authorities or perhaps even creditors. Soon > the attraction wears off, and they find other partners > > Have you found registrations of the marriages or various births of > children? I wouldn't rely on just the census. > > I presume you looked at all possibilities for Henry Hart and Henry > Hayden born around 1853. I would look further afield than just one county. > > It's very easy to focus on just one "Bill Smith" when logically there > are hundreds in any time frame or location. And if you restrict search > criteria to exact matches on 1853 and Brighton, you're only looking at one > possibility. > > Peter >