ABSTRACT
If you were to walk down the Strand in London, leaving Trafalgar Square behind you, until you reached the famed 'oranges and lemons' church of St. Clement's Dane you would have passed Somerset House on your right and be within a few paces of St. Catherine's House. If then you proceeded to Chancery Lane you would find the census records room in the Public Records Office. In anyone of these places, the census records office, St. Catherine's House or Somerset House, you will encounter on any week day, dozens of people intent on a quest. In the census records office they stare at the screens of microfilm readers, in a room filled with rows of these machines. At St. Catherine's House they will be poring over large volumes listing births, deaths and marriages. In Somerset House they will be searching for and examining wills and other legal documents related to the estates of those long dead.
