I've just subscribed to the list and while I now live in the UK, I have a lot of family connections to the Hunter Valley. My main line in the Hunter are the Cantwells and Brennans, but there are also strong links to the Kenna, McCrohon, Byrne/Byrnes and Cahill families back to the mid to late 1800s. After that, there are far too many different family names and connections to list. There's no one place connection as the families could be found in Newcastle, Kurri Kurri, Maitland, Singleton, Greta, Branxton, Cessnock and many other parts of the Hunter. Some subscribers to the list may know of people like Ted Cahill (police prosecutor at Maitland for some years and a keen bowler), the various Cantwell RC priests and nuns, or the author John Kenneth Cantwell. The Cantwells were also prominent butchers for many years. If anyone else has connections to these families, I'd be very interested in hearing from them and comparing notes. Dennis Dennis Johnstone Stonehead Croft Insch Aberdeenshire AB52 6LP Tel: 01464 821128 Email: dennis@donjon1.demon.co.uk Blog: http://stonehead.wordpress.com

Hello Dennis. Apologies for my late reply to your posting below. I have scant details of a Margaret THOMPSON (daughter of James THOMPSON and Mary Anne McInerney (and alternative spellings), who married a Patrick BRENNAN in 1855 at Maitland, NSW. It seems that they had a daughter: Annie, born at Maitland in 1861, who from the NSW BDM indexes, appears to have died in 1934. Patrick and Margaret are said to have lived in Queensland at some time. Hoping that this might be of assistance. Ray in Sydney. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dennis Johnstone" <dennis@donjon1.demon.co.uk> To: <AUS-NSW-Hunter-Valley-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 11:32 PM Subject: [HV] Cantwell, Brennan, Kenna, McCrohon, Byrne/Byrnes, Cahill ... family connections to the Hunter Valley. My main line in the Hunter are the Cantwells and Brennans, ... If anyone else has connections to these families, I'd be very interested in hearing from them and comparing notes. Dennis Johnstone