Hello, My g-grandmother was born in Portland in 1847. Her name was Sophia Agnes DOWLEY and sponsors at her christening were Thomas Delaney and Sophia Webb. Her parents were Richard DOWLEY and Jane RICHMOND (both born in Co. Tipperary, IRL), who arrived into Port Phillip VIC on the ‘Alexander’ in 1841. Apart from Sophia, Richard and Jane had 4 other children - Margaret (b. cf 1841), Mary (b. 1843; m. Thomas Whitecroft), Richard (b. 1846), and Alice (b. 1850). Sophia Agnes was married to my g-grandfather, Russell EVANS, in Warrnambool RC church in 1871. The ceremony was performed by the RC dean, Thomas Slattery. Russell was born in Carmarthen, Wales cf 1847 and, at the time of their marriage, was a clerk. I would be very interested to hear from anyone who may be descendants of this family, or know anything about them, as I am presently doing some family research on them. Also, are there any books available with details about the history of the Portland and/or Warrnambool areas, settlers and migrants in the area, school and church histories, shipping info’, etc? I really would love to hear back from any distant relatives, interested residents or local history societies. Kind regards, Des Evans. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.