Some twenty years ago my aunt gave me a watercolour which bears the inscription: "H.M.S. Arachne 18 guns" - John E. Montgomerie, Commander, Campache Bay, Gulf of Mexico, 26 June 1859." It's a rather fine painting of the ship under bare masts in a storm. I asked my aunt how she owned it but she couldn't remember. Some years later, when researching my family history, I discovered that my great-great-aunt, Jane Farrington (1833-1916), had married a Thomas E. Montogerie. Further research showed that this Thomas Montgomerie worked on the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, and it was he who first surveyed K2, the second highest mountain in the world, in 1856 (I think). I then twigged that there must be a connecttion with the John Montgomerie of the painting. Sure enough - they were brothers; John died unmarried. I suppose the painting came from widow Jane to her niece, my grandmother, and then to my aunt. Thomas Montgomerie's survey notes are in the Bodleian Library in Oxford - the India section near Blackwells bookshop. The K2 was merely Number 2 in the Karakoram Range. It was called Mt Godwin-Austen when I was a schoolboy, but reverted to K2 later. It's connections like this that make researching family history so rewarding - and fascinating. Best wishes Brian Duncan (currently in Kirtlington, Oxon, returning to Gettysburg, PA, tomorrow)# Researching: Duncan, McKennie, Dinwiddie, Bracken, Farrington, etc. _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_1