I sent the following to "British Ancestors" keith@britishancestors,com: EmailAddress: lewjr@attbi.com Message: My great grandfather, John Alexander Hunter, was born Feb. 5, 1840 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father was John Hunter and his mother Robinia. He immigrated to NY,USA on July 18, 1868. This information from his Naturalization papers. He married Mary Louise Powers on Nov. 27, 1869 in Boston, MA. He had five children: John, Mary Robinia, Sarah E., Alexander and my grandfather, Robert. How much information can I expect to get on him and his family, and what will it cost? Larry Weissbach, The response was: Hello Larry, We have referred this to our Scottish researcher and have received the following response: There is no sign of John Alexander Hunter's birth in the Scottish records. Prior to 1855, it was not compulsory to register births in Scotland and many - as many as 70% in some areas - were not registered. There is also no sign of Robina Hunter dying after 1855 in the Edinburgh area. Prior to 1855 it is even more difficult to track down deaths. We could look for the death of John Hunter in the Edinburgh area - deaths usually give the name of the spouse - but John is a lot more common than Robina and will take a bit of time. It is possible he also died before 1855 and it is also possible that the family moved away from Edinburgh. The chances of a successful search are therefore very poor and in the circumstances are sorry that we are not be able to conduct any research at this time. Regards, Keith Spillar I was very pleased with the timely response from Keith, although I would have liked to hear better news. It did not cost anything for this search and it probably saved me a lot of time and effort. Can anyone help me with more information on John Alexander Hunter and his family? Larry Weissbach

There ARE a lot of Alexanders, and John Alexanders, so it'll take a lot to actually match some of them up. Mine emigrated to Canada, first settling in the (near Ottawa) town of Riceville, Ontario. here's a sketch of my lineage as most recently known (tends to change as we learn!!) Alexander Hunter married Mary -- they lived in Edinburgh Scotland. There is some mention of having twins named Alexander and Mary as well. It's kinda confusing. However, they had at least two sons -- John Hunter and Samuel Gordon Hunter, both of whom emigrated to the Riceville (Ottawa area) Ontario, Canada area. John stayed there, and his family now has evolved into the Wilkes family. Samuel Gordon Hunter married his first cousin, Sarah Hunter, of Riceville and moved to Scotland, Ontario, Canada where he raised his family. Arthur Alexander Hunter (my grandfather) was born to Samuel & Sarah in Scotland, Ontario, Canada, but moved several places on his way to Swedesboro, NJ, USA in 1904. He married Ida Frances DePue of Hazleton, PA, and their children are: Arthur Francis Hunter Walter Stanton Hunter Donald Samuel Hunter Florence Emily Hunter Katherine Ruth Hunter John Alexander Hunter -- AGAIN Lena DePue Hunter Well, add that to your John Alexander list -- and if we match up somewhere, let me know!!! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience http://launch.yahoo.com