Thank you for your response Sandra, and I apologise for the delay in replying, but I have been away for a few days. I had not realised that licence could provide me with much information. The previous ones I have looked at have not been particularly informative, but I'll certain try to obtain this one. You never know, it just might name John's father......... Most of my research is done when I am in Switzerland, but I am a member of the Society of Genealogists. Hopefully they will have access to the licence, or can point me in the right direction. As you say though, it might be more useful for me to check for records held the county records office. I have no indication that any of the Straffords were non-conformist, but it is beginning to look like the only explanation for the missing birth. But that still does not explain the presence of Joshua and Elizabeth Strafford with John and his family in Scrooby..... Regards Margaret On 23 Aug 2007, at 10:33, S Todd wrote: Hi Margaret, Go for the licence! I did and it gave me loads of info - much more than I expected. I'm sure I'm telling you how to suck eggs but here goes......... You need to systematically look at all possible church records. Registers Banns registers Church wardens record books Settlement records etc etc Wills How to get them? Do the research yourself at the local / county archive Pay some one to do it for you Go to your nearest LDS centre and order the records there - they have to be viewed there also. To see what records they hold look at the Familysearch site and go to library page - follow the links from there. It will also tell you the address of your nearest LDS familyhistory centre. If I remember the cost of borrowing the film is about £2.50. If you have found info on the Familysearch site send to the County record office for a copy of the entry - sometimes the original contains more info than is shown on the LDS site Check how many churches are in the areas of interest. You may find that some of the records are only available from the county records office. Its easy to miss records if you just look at other holders of records - LDS SOG etc. Look in other places - Pallots for instance. You can also borrow records from the Society of Genealogists. A little costly but you would need to work this through for yourself. You have to be a member. The following figures are those I paid and are about a couple of years out of date. I paid £40 for a years membership, this entitled me to use their library free [£17 per day for non members] - the cost of films, fiche, books etc was free but you have to pay postage to and fro. They insist on recorded postage not just the ordinary stuff so a little pricey. I then bought myself a second hand fiche viewer - not necessary but I was doing a lot! If you do get a film/fiche you can use your local library facility to view it. You can keep the film for one month. Hope this helps Sandra ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to WEST-RIDING- request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message