Welcome to Jill McKenzie & to Ann Callaghan who have joined this week. If you haven't already contributed, we hope to hear from you soon. ****** ****** ****** Firstly, I regret to advise (for the benefit of AOL subscribers checking the archives) that AOL addresses are again bouncing in bulk (i.e. one bounce message covering all AOL based subscribers) ****** ****** ****** Another reminder that the theme for February is "Unusual stories from old newspapers about Bute or about my Buteshire Ancestors", and that suggestions for other themes would be welcomed. As things have slowed a little, lets expand the topic to include newspapers in Bute(shire) in general - most are aware that Bute has the "Buteman" - but how far was/is it distributed - did/does it get to Arran &/or Cumbrae? What do these other islands do for newspapers - do they in fact get a daily "morning" newspaper? I recall that when we were living in Derby (pronounced as spelt) in the far north Kimberley Region of Western Australia (late 1970's) - the daily newspaper arrived by plane at about 10:00 am, and so was read at lunch time or in the evening {Derby didn't have TV at that time). ----- ----- ----- A reminder also that the theme for March is "Who, out of all your Buteshire ancestors, would you invite to dinner today ?" - suggested Subject format is "Dinner guest - (name & date)" - content should give the age at which you would invite them, and also of course, say why. An example, using one group of ancestors whom I ended up excluding from my short list : "Dinner Guest - Isabella Colquhoun b 1828" My great great grandma Isabella (nee Buchanan - born Argyll) and her three children (2nd to 4th) were resident in Rothesay in 1851. Isabella is shown as Married and the "Wife of Engineer in Steamer",so husband Richard Colquhoun (born Glasgow in 1824) was presumably absent at sea. They were married in Rhu (or Row) DNB on 20 May 1845. Their 4th child and only son Richard jnr was born in Rothesay in late 1850 /early 1851, however the other two (Catherine & Christina) were born in Rhu. Another daughter Margaret was born in Rothesay in late 1852, before great grandma Isabella Colquhoun was born back in Rhu in 1857. So the family was in reality simply 'passing through' Rothesay - going where Richard's work took him. Never-the-less I'd love to be able to ask Isabella where her husband Richard was in 1851, and where her eldest daughter Agnes (age 6 in 1851) was at that time. Agnes didn't die until 1921, as Isabella returned from visiting Christina and her family who emigrated to the USA, to live out her days with her eldest daughter. I guess to cover all the questions, I'd have invited her to dinner after that US trip. ****** ****** ****** Feel free to join in and present your own items. Peter Cook cookfmly@bigpond.com List maintainer and Co-host with Barbara < babrown12@optonline.net > of the ButeshireGenWeb mailing list.