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Thanks for replying Heather.

I look forward to some proper head scratching!

Yours Befuddled and bemused,

Peter.

Oh if only I had a pound for every time I've shouted that! My gg grandmother was Harriet Sealey Mogg married to Emmanuel Field. When I first started researching this branch I thought Emmanuel had two wives as on their children's birth certs she was sometimes Harriet nee Sealey and sometimes Harriet nee Mogg. I am reading this on holiday but as soon as I get home I will contact you again and maybe we can share notes.

Yours in confusion

Heather

Amazingly enough I broke down one of my brick walls by 'Googling' my ancestor's name.  I had literally spent years searching for my missing great great grandfather, Harry Cantrell. Family tradition said that Harry was an engine driver and was killed in a railway accident in Africa.  As Harry appeared on the 1881 census and his widow remarried in 1896, it gave me a window of 15 years.  There were not too many railways in Africa at that time and I read everything I could find with no success.  One day, on a whim, I put Harry's name into the search engine and came up with an obituary in an Australian newspaper.  It got better - Harry died in Tasmania, in 1932 leaving a wife and daughter.  His (2nd) marriage certificate helpfully gave his date of birth and named his parents, so I know I have the right man. The obituary did actually confirm that he had worked as a driver in South Africa.

I know I was lucky, but it is worth a try.