Hello Everyone, I'm a newcomer so I shall apologise beforehand if I make any mistakes! (It's a strong possibility as I'm always doing daft things like baking an apple with salt instead of sugar. Did that a couple of days ago). However, back to genealogy. I've come up across a brick wall early on in researching my paternal grandmother's line. Emma Winfield b.1885 was married to Horace Willgoose in Sheffield, Yorkshire, U.K. Her parents were John (aka William) Winfield b.abt.1853 in Melbourne, Derbyshire, a chimneysweeper, and Mary Jane Parker b.1853 possibly in Sheffield. John and Mary married in 1874 in Sheffield and Emma was their seventh child. (Family stories say that Mary was also a seventh child which is supposed to make Emma a bit mystic I think!). Emma's siblings were: Elizabeth b.1875 Flora b.1877 Beatrice b.1879 John b.1881 and two others. None of these children survived to adulthood according to my aunt (Emma's daughter). My brick wall is that it is difficult to find out anything more about John or his parents. Can anyone enlilghten me please? I hope to visit Melbourne sometime to have a poke around but not yet awhile. If I can help anyone with look-ups please let me know. I have the 1881 Census, Vital Records for the U.K. and Australia and a Pigot's 1821 Directory. I also have John Palmer's great Wirksworth C.D. although you can access that on the web, of course. Hope this first message hasn't been too long. Good luck with your research, K http://willgooseweb.accessgenealogy.com