Thanks very much Sarah and Heather for your information. Also the unknown Kathy mentioned in Sarah's reply. Now only the sheep to go! >The letters are read starting with the H. It refers to a Masonic motto for a specific degree or level of Freemasonry. The motto associated with this particular degree is denoted by H T W S S T K S (Hyram Tyrian, Widows Son Sent To King Solomon). >Thanks so much to Bill and Aric and the others I heard from. You guys are terrific! Kathy> Jill

You are welcome Jill. I have been away for 24 hours and just now getting back on this. Ron has the 'sheep' one figured out and I will send it via email. I found Sarah's 'answer'......it was a question to a Rootsweb group by a person named Kathy and her reply. The webpage this Kathy refers to is full of 'maybes and probablys' and looks like someone's draft notes. However, I found several pages with this cryptonym explained and the 'proper' interpretation, which Ron finds to make more sense. There are 2 Hirams prominent in Masonry...... One quote is below........and it seems that it is common in the US at the present time......it applies to the 'Royal Arch' Masons......one of the branches of Masonry. >>H.T.W.S.S.T.K.S. (arranged in circle within keystone) Masonic >>"mark" of Ancient Grand Master. York Rite Royal Arch Mason. And leaving out the questionable 'Tyrian', it seems to make more sense as follows..... "Hiram, the Widow's Son, sent to King Solomon" OK.....Ron just found that one in his 'tomes' and that is the correct interpretation. I will forward more information by email as I don't want to bore the group, and frankly some of it is rather secret(?). (VBG) Cheers.......Heather > Thanks very much Sarah and Heather for your information. Also the unknown > Kathy mentioned in Sarah's reply. Now only the sheep to go! > > >The letters are read starting with the H. It refers to a Masonic motto for > a specific degree or level of Freemasonry. The motto associated with this > particular degree is denoted by H T W S S T K S (Hyram Tyrian, Widows Son > Sent To King Solomon). > > >Thanks so much to Bill and Aric and the others I heard from. You guys are > terrific! > Kathy> > > Jill > > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >