According to my Aunt, our family was in the Forest of Dean all the way back to the Domesday Book. While I had no reason to question her on this, it didn't occur to me to confirm the family line she was tracing was Clarke.

With the kind assistance of Slowhands I had numerous leads to follow up. One of them was a death for William Clarke. In the 1841 census he was living in Blakeney with two of his sons, Richard (20) and Henry (8). His wife, Elizabeth (nee Griffiths), and several other children were missing from the census and haven't been accounted for otherwise.

I was hoping the burial record Slowhands found for William Clarke would help confirm some of the info, and hopefully provide a few more leads. The FOD record shows a burial, in Awre, of William Clarke, age 70, on 3 January 1845. (Promising, it would explain why he's missing from the 1851 census). (Register Ref P 30 IN 1/10, page 119).

I sent for the death certificate from the GRO, and they say there is no record of this death, and they looked for a three year period without finding a record and therefore were cancelling the order and refunding my payment. I looked through the registration index and didn't meet with any success in locating the record on Ancestry UK either.

I seem to be stuck. Does anyone have any advice as to where I go from here? Or why the record wouldn't have been recorded? All of my leads appear to conclude at dead ends. Are there any Clarke or Griffith family members/researchers out there who have any information that would help jump start my research?

Thanks.

Sandra