Lisa, Following is the bio of William Ostler in _The El Paso Story_ (which is online at http://www.elpaso.net/~bank/elpasohistory/index.htm). I have a genealogy of the North family into which both William and his son Jan/John William married, but unfortunately, neither of their marriages produced any surviving offspring. "OSTLER, William Sr. and (1) Sarah North, (2) Mary Morris, (3) Ann Ball – William migrated from England in 1851, and purchased the NE 1/4, of the NE 1/4 of Section 16 from James Trotter on September 14, 1854. Trotter had purchased this school land from the State on September 28, 1853. Ostler began farming it "on English Lane" in 1855, and continued there for many years. He wrote a diary, short extracts being printed in the Curtiss & Evans booklet on El Paso in 1895, but he is slightly in error. He and his second wife were the parents of Jan William Ostler, Annie O. (Schofield) and Ella O. Stevens." I would offer to help read the letters, but am going to be quite busy for the next few months and might not have time until August or so. If you're still looking for a volunteer at that time, drop me a line and let me know. I would be interested in learning where William Ostler came from in England, especially if it is from the area of Lincolnshire/Cambridgeshire near The Wash or from central-to-north east Devonshire. I've been intending to get to the library and look up some obits in the microfilms of the El Paso Journal. If I do get there, I'll see if I can find William's and pass it on to you if you don't already have it--it might provide some clues. Dan Steffen dlsteffn@elpaso.net At 09:02 PM 4/22/02 -0600, you wrote: ______________________________X-Message: #5 >Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 18:04:15 -0500 >From: "Lisa Marcinek" <marcinek@attbi.com> >To: ILWOODFO-L@rootsweb.com >Message-ID: <002901c1ea52$08044540$0ae5f90c@attbi.com> >Subject: [ILWOODFORD] El Paso Ostler/Jennings family? >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" > >Sorry if it is a repeat, but I don't think the first post worked. > > I recently inherited some 30 letters addressed to William Ostler of El > Paso, IL. Most are dated in the 1860s and are from family members, esp > his mother in London. Some info I learned online: he is listed in the > Patron's Directory for Woodford County 1873 as immigrating from England > to El Paso in 1851. Died 1905. I have not yet traced his connection to > my family, except that these letters came to my mother by way of her > great-grandfather's sister, Zetta Jennings, Forrest, IL (a half hour East > of El Paso on route 24?). I am looking for a connection between these > people and for any other descendants who might be interested in reading > these letters with me. Any help or tips would be appreciated.