I am sending this to the list as others may have some good ideas too. Mary Ann Thompson unfortunately missed the two most important census' taken in her life time, 1850 and 1880. These were the ones that listed all the household members. She might appear on the 1851 Canadian census but I do not have access to that. You might find it by searching the internet and http://www.cyndislist The following is all that I could find. It looks like this is the correct Mary Ann Thompson but does not give you a lot of information. On the Ship Sea out of Liverpool arriving in New York 8 Dec 1846 were the following Thompsons traveling in steerage in transit to Upper Canada. Upper Canada at that time was more or less what is now Ontario. John Thompson age 50, workman, born Ireland as were all the others. No city listed in Ireland. Mary age 30; William age 24 workman; Sarah age 11; John age 9; Mary Ann age 7; Thomas age 5; James age 3; and Eliza age 1. Doing research in Ireland is difficult but much easier if you have a location and you do. You have Mary Ann's birth place as Ulster. Irish internet sites: http://www.cyndislist.com and look under the topical index for Irish http://www.genuki.org.uk/ http://www.nationalarchives.ie/gen_researchers.html http://www.rootsweb.com/~irish/index.html I am sorry that I cannot help you much. It would be nice to find an obituary for her. Ancestry did not have any Oregon newspapers for that period. Try Oregon state archives at http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us Go to the bottom of the page where you will see a link to genealogy. Bette -----Original Message----- From: J. Snyder [mailto:snyder@nwrain.com] Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 7:43 PM To: Bette Richards Subject: Re: newspaper research Dear Bette, Oh, than you so much.,I am stumped. My great-grandmother, Mary Ann Thompson, born Ballycastle, Ulster Ireland July 12 , 1839, died Hillsboro, Oregon, September 22, 1878, was married to Henry Alfred Bunker June 2, 1868 in Oswego, Oregon. Mary Ann died when my grandmother, Annie Elizabeth Bunker Stearns, was only six. However, at our family picnics every August, Annie would always stress to me that we were Scots and not Irish! I would dearly love to trace back to Europe but haven't even found Mary Ann on a census. The MacTavish clan claims that many of their number settled in Ulster and changed their name to Thompson. but I have found no way of proving this. Thanks for looking, Jo Ann Snyder ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bette Richards" <betterichs@earthlink.net> To: <BUNKER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 4:57 PM Subject: newspaper research > We have purchased a subscription to Ancestry's newspaper database. I have > been having a great time messing around in it trying to see how to best > search it. The best way is by using a first name to go with Bunker. That > way we do not get Bunker Hills all over the place and I haven't gotten a > reference to a war bunker yet or golf bunker either. > > Keeping in mind that most of these papers were published in the 1900's, I > will be happy to look up anyone you would like me to. I looked up my > grandfather and found 153 entries. He was a perfectly ordinary man. The > biggest share of the entries had to do with him being visited or visiting > someone. Still, in the process I have also found several obituaries, > references to accidents, jobs and businesses, weddings and births. It is > easier if you know the place to look. Even the state will narrow down the > hits some. > > Let me know if you want me to look up someone. > > Bette > > > > ==== BUNKER Mailing List ==== > Post your information and queries. We love it. No BUNKER rock left untouched. Spelling variations ok - we don't "know" the original.