This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: jkhutto Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.thompson/18724/mb.ashx Message Board Post: After 13 years of struggling and research, I finally broke thru the brick wall and discovered my Thompson family's English roots. My gg-grandfather John Charles Thompson was born in Bishopwearmouth, CO Durham, England in 1838. I stumbled onto the Naturalization Index and matched him by exact birthdate and his entry into Boston, MA in 1872. Prior to that, he was living in Montreal, Canada with his wife Margaret McDermott Thompson and three oldest children. This was exciting for me because there were no Canadian records to help in the search other than the 1871 census which didn't reveal anything new. I found many records at Familysearch.org since the UK has now posted nearly all their birth-marriage-death records online back to the 1500s. This was mindblowing to say the least. I highly recommend that you start your search there when you are bogged down by those pesky and sometimes nebulous British origins. It's also helpful when you are researching a very common name such as Smith, Jones, and Thompson. John Charles Thompson was the only child and son of William Thompson and wife Elizabeth Milburn. Elizabeth died when John was only 3 years old and he was raised his father and maternal aunts Ann and Mary. William was the son of William Thompson and Lucy Gibson, both of Durham CO. I'm still working on earlier generations of Thompson but it's exciting to finally know where my line originated. Best of luck to all researchers and never give up. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.