Hello to all Forbes. I am new to this list - I have not explored this part of my tree before and welcome contact with anyone who fits into the following data. I am a direct descendant, g-g-g-grandson, of Christina Bruce, nee Forbes. Christina was born March 26, 1775, at Latheron, Caithness, Scotland. She died May 8, 1855 at Munsary and is buried at Latheron Church. She married Donald Bruce [1769-1857] on March 15, 1796. Christina was a daughter of Donald Forbes and Margaret Gunn who were married on Feb 12, 1774, at Latheron. Christina had a sister, Margaret, who married William Sutherland [I have a number of other Sutherland links from the same region]. She had a brother, Alexander Forbes who emigrated to Queensland, Australia. Christina's other two brothers, Robert [1784-1837] and William [1786-1852] both went to Florida in about 1820. They seem to have inherited much of the proceeds of the sale of the 1817 Forbes Purchase in Florida. John Forbes was the principal character in the Forbes Purchase and his brother Thomas was also involved. I have no idea of the relationship between Robert and William, and John and Thomas. Possibly John and Thomas were brothers of Donald Forbes, i.e. uncles of Robert, William, Christina, Alexander and Margaret. Either Robert or William was a judge. When they died, they left their fortune to their sisters, Christina and Margaret. Some of the proceeds from this trickled down to numerous relatives all over the world, including the children of 14 grandchildren of Christina in New Zealand. This money arrived in 1915, just in time to finance my grandfather to fight in France in WW1. One of Christina's sons, James Bruce, went direct from Scotland to Florida in 1849. Two grandsons, Donald and Hector Bruce, went direct from Scotland to Florida in about 1862-1865. Two grandsons, William and Alexander Bruce, went from New Zealand to Florida in 1881 to "assist with the winding up of the Forbes Estate". They remained in Florida. One grandson, James Bruce, went from NZ to Florida in 1915, lived in the "Forbes-Bruce homestead" for five years, and returned to NZ in 1920. Believe it or not, one of his descendants lives about 20 kilometres from me and, in spite of the most friendly and soft approaches, for some reason he will not explain, refuses to talk to us! We have no idea why! James Bruce married Laura Turner. We have had no contact with any of these Forbes or Bruces since about 1920. I am currently building a very comprehensive family tree and would be very pleased to make contact with any descendants of these people any where in the world, including New Zealand where one or two branches are rather vague. I hope to visit Caithness in Scotland in 2001 to visit more of the 'family places' than I had time to do in 1996. Looking forward to making contact, regards to all, Dave Collins dave.clnz@xtra.co.nz ph (09) 298 6614