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His death certificate should be listed under the 'Marine Deaths', ie, Deaths at Sea, on this very site. But you're in danger of looking a gift-horse when you write 'the only detail on it' - the fact that a gravestone has told you so much is a a very good, useful and informative find!

I am glad we could help. Creating order out of apparent chaos is one of the skills of a genealogist.

It might be literally from a casker - one who made casks, but is might also be an Anglicisation of a Gaelic surname, such as MacAsker. Trace it further back and see how it was spelled then, and whether there is any indication of Irish or Scottish heritage.

That's another one for Genes Reunited's indomitable technical support people, I'm afraid.

Yes, many such records survive. Ask in the Lincolnshire archives or the local studies library near where he lived - or of course in the local schools themselves. Local studies libraries are under awful threat from budgetary cuts, but they are truly fantastic resource that all family historians should do all we can to support, visit, use and keep open!

Exactly - but in your grandfather's case, the key thing is his birth record, where there was NO father named at all. 'Joseph' may have been his real father's name, and maybe the occupation was true too - but he would have amended the surname to disguise his illegitimacy.

No humans can fathom all the mysteries of computer printers. It is easier to fly to the moon. I don't follow your description here. Do you mean that the mother was recorded as Ellen Parker nee Harris, and that no father's name was filled in? In that case, it denotes the illegitimate son of a married woman, who was not the son of her husband.

I should have added, to the last answer, that often illegitimate children made up a father's name to put on their marriage certificates, as they (understandably) did not want to own up to illegitimacy in front of their bride and new in-laws. As to this present question, the 'Lord Miles' suggestion is certainly one worth following up. There is no such title as Lord Miles of Bristol: the Marquesses of Bristol are the Herveys. You are referring here to the Miles baronets of Bristol (baronets, not lords), who are descended from a mayor of Bristol. Your family could perfectly well be related to them. Besides Burke's as I suggested, you could seek the baronets' wills (probably at Documents Online, on The National Archives website) to see if your people are mentioned.

I do sympathise, but I'm afraid I have no technical abilities at all, especially when it comes to printing! You can ask the site's technical support people, who are very good and helpful - under the 'Help' bar above.

The vast majority of what you want will be in the archives on St Kitts, but the Society of Genealogists has a very good collection for British people in the West Indies, especially memorial inscriptions, and there is material (on slave plantations, for example) in The National Archives.

How bizarre. It is such an odd name that it may have confused the registrars and their clerks - perhaps you should try under plain Lleweln Pullinger, or Lleweln Pullinger Essex. Come on, all you who are reading this - someone must have heard of this unusually-named chap!

Helen McWhinnie suggests connections with Ireland or Scotland, so maybe you should be thinking about looking there too...

I am glad you are prevailing! For the 1780s, you'd be looking for a baptism, not a birth. Many are indexed at www.familysearch.org, but a good many are not, so you would have to look in the relevant parish registers, especially those not covered by indexes. Bristol had many churches and chapels at that stage, so your time spent in Bristol would not be idle! If this Lord Miles is thought to be a connection - which sounds exciting, then look him up in Burke's Peerage and see if your William appears as a relative. For Germans, a good way of finding places of origin is from naturalisations, which are at The National Archives.

I should think it is just a coincidence: in the 17th and 18th centuries, surnames started being used as first names, for many reasons - to commemorate grand ancestors, or because of illegitimacy. Stokes is a popular surname, so it is no surprise (but interesting, anyway!) to see it appearing as a first name in several different families.

Look for her and her father in the censuses. This will say where she was born,. Then, if it was in England and Wales, you can look in the indexes to these births, on this site. If you have done this and have not found her yet, try variants - Lathom, for example.

Are you saying your ancestor was called "Essex Llewelyn Pullinger"? What an extraordinary name! Besides the places you have looked already, have you tried the army births? Many "lost" births are lurking there. Also, consider variant spellings - Pillenger, for example.

What an irony there. There is a certain amount about internees at The National Archives, and also his local police force would have had a record of him, which should include specifics about his place of birth. Naturally, you should seek him in each available census from 1914 back, as once in a while the answers given by foreigners were quite specific. Also at The National Archives, you could see if he was naturalised after the war.

That's an interesting suggestion. He could have married, of course, without a birth record - there are always ways around such problems - but he himself may have felt it was an insurmountable problem, and, without a birth record, was too reticent to approach the registrar in order to marry. It is a good idea - but don't let it put you off persisting in seeking both the birth and marriage, as they may be there, hidden away under a different date, or a different place, or spelling.

"Also are there any records of commercial travellers around 1855/6" - not as such - and they were frustratingly mobile, of course. "Is there anyway of finding any information about orange groves" - not as such! However, I presume the growing of oranges would confine the possibilities to the southern United States, and you could certainly look for your ancestor in the outgoing ship's passenger lists, going to America, or in the American censuses. You can seek his will (here, presumably, rather than there) and see if he mentioned his orange groves.

No. You can find the reference to the record here, and then order the document itself from www.gro.gov.uk.