Dear All I would like to extend to all list members my best wishes for the year ahead. I know that some of you have made family connections through the Barnett list during 2003, which is always a thrill, and I hope that many more have that joy in the year ahead. From time to time it is relevant to remind all list members of the a couple of things that will ensure that we all get the best use out of the list. Firstly, if you cease getting postings from the list check that you haven't exceeded your quota as set by your ISP. This is a fairly common problem and means that you may miss out on valuable contacts. If you are going away and will be unable to collect you email consider unsubscribing from the list whilst away and the subscribe again on your return. Check the archives for items that were posted in your absence so that you don't miss any postings that may have been important for you. From time to time items get posted to the list that are not related to family history or stray outside of good taste. By all means maintain a dialogue with your list buddies but do ensure that you correctly address emails so that items best dealt with between two parties do not find their way onto the list. I know how easy it is for an email address to be completed on your behalf by the system only to realised after pressing the send button that it was not the email address intended. While not encouraging "stray" postings, please remember that we all make mistakes from time to time. If you are concerned about items posted to the list please contact me in the first instance before going public. Equally, if you inadvertently post something that you did not intend to post an "oops ... sorry" message may be helpful so that list members realise that your posting occurred in error. I'm still hunting for Barnett relatives in England. I have certainly made some progress this year and hope to track down more of the missing ones in the next 12 months. In the meantime, December 26 is the 200th anniversary of the death of my great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Thomas Barnett. He died at Remenham, Berkshire, England where he had farmed for more than half a century. He is buried in the Remenham churchyard with a number of other Barnett family members. If anyone out there has any connection with the Remenham Barnetts I would love to hear from you. Happy family hunting Lorraine Wuth Barnett list admin