To: AUS-NSW-PENRITH-L@rootsweb.com Hello, I am looking to determine which families of Castlereagh are related by marriage to the Byrnes family (descendants of David and Ann) who lived there. I am currently looking into this and am using Patricia Curry's very comprehensive book "A Byrnes Book 1880-2000" plus internet search. Am also hoping to have a board/A-frame at the Castlereagh celebration day and might meet some people there? Myself, my wife, and my uncle Ken are interested (my parents maybe also - but they are in their 80s and in a nursing home and are unlikely to get to Castlereagh ever again). We feel that, as far as we aware, other Byrnes (there's at least 150+ of us descendent from union of David+Ann bearing the Byrnes name and scads more who would be now under other surnames) are likely to be unaware of the Castlereagh celebration coming up. So by my reckoning, and please correct me, or tell me of further families, we have some relationship to the following families who live/d at Castlereagh: SHEEN CURRY LEES GORMAN LEWIS YEOMANS JACKSON Byrnes (my immediate ones anyway) are an Irish/Scots +/- Welsh sort of family. My father's name is "Mostyn" which is a town in northern Wales. My grandfather's middle name is Girvan, which is a town in Scotland I think. Our David forebear came from Ireland and his wife Ann came from England near Nottingham. I only recently found out that the Lewis family had a reunion in 2002 at Castlereagh and advertised in SMH, stating there inter alia that BYRNES is a related name. Ditto, the SHEENs had a reunion recently and also notified that Byrnes was a related name. My apology that we never much took note, and I would like to say belatedly that we ARE most interested to make any such contacts. I hope there will be a Byrnes family study group started, and (if the name is not taken already) a mailing list may be commenced soon as byrnes@yahoogroups.com We also seem to have some lost "family friends" in the district that somebody might know ... My uncle Ken says that he recalls that his parents, Arthur and Janet Byrnes, during the 1930's-1940's retained friends in the Castlereagh/Penrith area. The kids knew them as Aunty Ethel and Uncle Fred. They had a farm somewhere near Penrith that had horses and sulkies. This was the first time that Ken ever saw horses as a boy. He has informed me that their full name was Fred and Ethel WILLIAMS, that they were very old people when he first met them, and they were "real pioneers" of the day. He thinks that if we can find that family then they too, or their decendants, may well recall Janet or Arthur of the William Taylor Byrnes line. Anybody with information, I'd be most pleased to hear from you if you could contact me off-list. Thank you, John Graham Byrnes (Home): z2204020@POP3.student.unsw.edu.au (Work): byrnesj@minerls.nsw.gov.au Ph: (02) 9901 8789