Hi Nancy: Do you have any idea where your David was born in Scotland? If you can come up with a Parish, might be easier to trace his family in Scotland. Did he have two forenames? Most Scots used known naming patterns so with a persons forenames, it gives good clues to his ancestory - at least a guess as to what his grandfathers names were. If David is your chaps only name, am willing to bet one of his grandfathers had the name David too. David was one of the more common forenames of Scotland and we spent considerable time trying to sort out one of David Nicols - still not 100% sure he is ours, but burial records, etc. suggest we got the correct one. If we could only find a service record for the Nepoleonic wars, we could cinch our conclusions. He was not on the Trafalgar list. This is where collateral information is crucial. For me getting all the brothers and sisters and their names in date order (lst born top of list) helped. Using the Scottish naming information, it was easier to follow the lines. Lauraine > > From: "Dalle, Nancy, Civ, 126 CES, CEOR, 4878" <[email protected]> > Date: 2008/11/24 Mon AM 07:08:48 CST > To: "'[email protected]'" <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [CAN-USA-MIG] Simple surnames > > My last name is West. My great Grandfather and Grandfather's names were > Joseph. Do you know how many Joseph West there are in the world. This was > one of my stumbling blocks. It still is, I've got my Great Grandfather's > name - David West and I know he came from Scotland to Canada then to > Michigan. But he is my end of this line unless I can find more about him. > West is a very common name and searching for ancestors is like looking for a > needle in a haystack...... But I'll keep looking...... > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Sunday, November 23, 2008 11:47 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [CAN-USA-MIG] Simple surnames > > Wow, can't imagine haveing a surname that can and probably does now, include > millions...like Brown or Jones, geeze. It must really get frustrating...I > have a hard time with Irish "RYAN" name at times, luckly my Paternal surname > is a bit easier is "FILIPPINI", tough to pronounce but fairly easy to > find... > Wishing all a happy Turkey day, where ever you are. > > ~Linda~ > Happy Holidays, to you and yours~ > > When you want to respond to a query or comment posted on this List, I find > it MUCH easier to post a new message -- remembering to include the SUBJECT > from the post you are responding to !! Please make sure there is a > SURNAME or place-name in the Subject. > > To search the archives: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=CAN-USA-MIGRATION > The information page is: > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Immigration/CAN-USA-MIGRATION.html > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > When you want to respond to a query or comment posted on this List, I find it MUCH easier to post a new message -- remembering to include the SUBJECT from the post you are responding to !! Please make sure there is a SURNAME or place-name in the Subject. > > To search the archives: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=CAN-USA-MIGRATION > The information page is: > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Immigration/CAN-USA-MIGRATION.html > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >