Thank you Bill. I wish I did have the original letter, but unfortunately it has been lost (not by me) and before that was in some stage of disintigration. Apparently many many years ago it was translated into English by someone. I'm not even sure that the original transcription has survived. Your mention of the falling 's' was very interesting. I hadn't thought of that, but once you mentioned it I too remember seeing that in some of the old handwriting I've seen. As far as the number of female mourners, there was only one other female mentioned in a list of men. If you hadn't pointed that out to me, I would have thought it odd that instead of the deceased's ill sister attending the funeral, her husband was mentioned. This makes it more plausible at least. Thank you again. And thank you to Gareth and to Patrick for their insights as well. I learn so much from people on this site. This list has been like a key to a myriad of locked family history doors. Thank you. Lea From: BILLGJ@aol.com Subject: Re: [Dyfed] DYFED question about a nic-name ? You should not dismiss the possibility of a simple mis-read of James for Jenny. People often wrote their trailing "s" finishing below the line, rather like a "y"; I have been fooled by this in the past. Do you have the letter in original or copy? If so, look at other words ending with "s" and see whether the last letter droops below the line. The other point worth considering is what proportion of mourners were female - it was not uncommon for this to be a man's duty and the women stayed away. Bill G-J