Folks, Bill Fulton (wfulton@home.com, Paradise Valley, Ariz. 85253) in a separate note explained to me that he is descended from both the Pittsburgh (Bell Foundry) and the White Bear Lake lines of the Fultons descended from John Fulton b 1713. His wife Marge is the genealogist and they plan to do some genealogical research in their upcoming trip to the UK. As soon as I hear "trip to UK" a flood of beautiful memories return. Sometimes events happen by chance, and one wonders if it was serendipity or not. When my sister, Florence Fulton Wolfe, and I last visited Scotland in 1997, we stopped off at Dick's Institute in Kilmarnock for several days of research. On one afternoon, I was examinig all the unpublished manuscripts of tombstone inscriptions of the surrounding cemeteries. I asked the librarian if she had any maps of Stewarton, since I was interested in the Stewarton Parish Church where my gr-gr-gr-gr grandfather and grandmother had their banns of marriage read in 1773. I was interested in any cemeteries in that area, but had been unable to find any manuscripts on them. A gentleman in the library, an Archibald Chalmers, overheard my conversation and introduced himself. He had just stopped off at the library on his way home from work (normally he would not have been there at that time of day.) As it turns out, he had written a manuscript of the tombstone inscriptions of the Stewarton Parish Church and had donated a copy to Dick's Institute, but it had not yet been catalogued. As an elder of the Church, he invited us to tour it and the cemetery. We learned so much from him and his hospitality was much appreciated. A chance encounter or was it meant to happen ? By the way, the cemetery contains the remains of Robert Burns' uncle. When my gr-gr-gr-gr grandfather wrote that he knew Robert Burns as a boy, this tombstone in Stewarton helps to explain how that could happen, since Burns' uncle lived in the area. The graveyard has numerous surnames of interest to us such as Guthrie, Kerr, Cunningham, Montgomerie. You see these same units of communities in migration to Northern Ireland and parts of PA. One that caught my eye states, "This is the Burial Place of Alexander Fulton, in Corsehouse, and Janet Fulton, his spouse. Done by me, William Fulton, who is the fifth generation 1742." I get the feeling that Fultons were in this area a long time. How I wish William Fulton could tell us the stories of his previous five Fulton generations. On another stone was a John Fulton Smith and Margaret Peacock, his spouse. He was born 18th Aug. 1693, and died Oct 1775. His name had been indexed under Smith, but subsequent research in the OPR proved that he as a John Fulton. I believe the Smith was his occupation. Archie Chalmers shared the history of his community including the makers of the famous Stewarton bonnet. We visited the factory where the bonnets were made about an hour before closing time on the last day we would be in Stewarton. Florence fell in love with the Stewarton bonnet and wanted to purchase one, but was saddened to find out they were all hand-made based on individual orders. The head supervisor noticed the disappointment on her face, whipped out her tape measure and said "Dear, we are going to make your your bonnet now !" This was a half-hour before closing time. So we saw Florence's bonnet made right before our eyes, as it was passed from one station to the next from the cutting, pressing, stitching, and sewing on the pom-pom. What a delight. We shall never forget Archie Chalmers and the gracious ladies at the Stewarton bonnet factory. What memories. Roberta R. (Fulton) Hirth Harriman, New York 10926 FULTON web page at: http://www.frontiernet.net/~elisa96/hirth/fulton.htm