Thank you for the welcome. I subscribed and then wondered what happened as I didn't seem to have any response. Now I know I was lost in the ether but now am found. I live in Queensland, Australia and am age challenged. My father, Alexander Friel was born at Rothesay in 1881. My husband and I were able to visit there last year and it was just wonderful. My cousin took us by car from Kilbride to Bute, around the island and back via the mountain range. It was jolly cold but I saw the place where my father was born. No house there now but the blood sang just the same to be close to his birthplace in Mill St. I am putting together my father's family tree. The family names are Friel (or Freel or Friell), Leitch, Canning, McDougal, McCallum and McEwan. Grandfather Patrick Friel came from Ireland and married Jemima Leitch. I believe his father was also a Patrick and his mother Ellen I have the Friel family from then on and have contact with our Friell cousins in Scotland but I ! have no Irish history of his family or the Leitch side. I would be grateful for any information. Muriel