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@Colin Nichol Make yourself a cuppa. This may be long! I think, Colin, that you probably made ‘a couple’ of mistakes. Haven’t we all! When we research our family history, we usually start with those nearest in line and work backwards in time: parents, grandparents, great grandparents etc. At that stage, it’s fair to assume that we are beginners in the field of genealogy. Some of the most common mistakes I’ve come across in my 15 years of researching almost every week are the following: 1 Taking for granted that other people’s trees are correct. We look at other people’s family trees and take for granted that they are correct. OFTEN THEY ARE NOT!! Believe me, I’ve been their myself. Always check the information before adding it to your own family tree. By doing this check you will save yourself hours of work later in your research AND you will save other beginners from making mistakes when they look at your tree. 2 Confusing ‘date of birth’ with ‘date of registration of a birth’. A correct date of birth is only found on a birth certificate. The birth index gives the date on which the birth was registered. This can occur several months after a birth for several reasons. This is especially confusing when a birth occurs at the end of one year and is registered at the beginning of the following year. If you want to be certain, obtain a birth certificate copy. 3 Confusing the place of birth with the place of registration. An accurate place of birth is only found on a birth certificate. The birth index gives only the place of registration. Since 1834 England and Wales share a joint birth, marriage, death (and census register). England has 60 County Registration Districts, Wales has 21. (The same registration districts are used to compile the census since 1851) Each County Registration District covers several civil registration districts so called ‘sub-districts’. Some small changes have occurred over the years as parish and county boundaries have changed. Particularly interesting for us Bedlingtonians is the Northumberland County Registration District – and here’s something that may be of interest to you Colin – the ancient county of Northumberland 1834 – 1889 included the town of Berwick on Tweed. Registration districts could even cross boundaries. The Northumberland district has 18 sub-registration districts. One of these which might interest you, Colin, is the sub-district of ‘Bellingham’. You mentioned this a place of birth for Mary Alice but it is (unless you’ve seen a birth certificate) the name of the registration district in which her birth was registered. Each sub-registration district was made up of a number of parishes (which is why the parish name appears at the top of census records). Again, maybe of interest to you, the registration district of Bellingham had 38 parishes one of which was ‘Plashetts and Tynehead’. The registration district of Bellingham was abolished in 1936 and most sub-districts were then incorporated into the Northumberland West Registration District. 4 Getting hung up on names. Names can vary for one and the same person, from census to census. Parents filling in the census forms, more often than not, write the name they use for the child at home (often a diminutive or just one of their two registered forenames). The only accurate name of a child (or wife) is the name that appears in the birth register or birth certificate. So, Winifred Ellen Smith may be written as: Winifred Ellen, Winifred, Ellen, Winnie Ellen, just plain old Winnie or even Nelly. (Those examples all relate to a member of my family). And finally, you’ll be pleased to hear, we should always remember that the enumerator who conducted the local census inquiry was, like the rest of us, only human. He could – and did – make mistakes when transcribing the content of your relatives (often almost illegible) form to his book, the one that is available to us. Do you recognise yourself in any of those beginner’s errors, Colin? Have another look at all the documents I messaged to you. Pay particular attention to children’s names, order of birth, ages and place of birth (not always exactly the same but most within the same registration district (Falstone – 1881 census - is just 4 miles south east of Plashetts). The one exception is ‘Scotland’. That could be explained by an enumerator’s error/ignorance or the fact that the exact location of the England/Scotland border was long a subject of dispute. Just a thought! I personally don’t think that Mary Alice Snowdon was born in Canonbie Scotland. That person is named only Mary in the birth index. She, according to the Scottish Births and Baptisms records, was born 01 Aug 1869. You have confirmed to me that I have located the correct Mary Alice Snowdon (married name Nichol) in the 1911 census where she gives her age as 42 years. In the 1921 census people were required to give their age in years and months which makes it easier to calculate a birthday. The 1921 census took place 19/20th June. Looking at Mary Alice’s entry, her age is given as 52 years and 6 months. From that, I calculate that she was born in December 1868. Her birth wasn’t registered until a couple of weeks later when 1869 had already been ushered in. Sorry, it's a lot to take in, I know. Let me know how you get on.