I've had two good experiences through the years: 1) When I phoned all the listings in the USA with my great-grandfather's surname, the older ones of an age to have had the information I wanted were mostly widows of men with our name ..... elderly widows who knew absolutely nothing about their husband's families. Until I called the one furthest away ..... and that old guy said his sister (who had a different surname, of course!) had the entire family history and he'd take my name and address and have her write! He also took my email and said he'd let me know that way how it was coming along. I got everything they had -- superb!!! I called about 45 listings on a Saturday -- some weren't at home -- and I think it cost about 5 or 6 dollars altogether. Not very much for what I got!!! And even the ones who had changed their names were helpful as I no longer had to wonder "what if" about them! 2) I also, at another time, sent a long email to a store in Ireland owned by relatives, which I found online. When I hadn't had a reply in a month, I edited down my letter, put the questions in the first paragraph, and sent it again. Within two weeks I had a big brown envelope in the mail from Ireland. The storekeepers were not interested in answering ... but they gave my inquiry to another relative whose different name I would never have found .... his second great-grandmother and mine were sisters (the name on the store), and he has been absolutely wonderful, sending all manner of things including photos of graves there and 50 miles away, research in city directories of the early 1800s, books on the area, transcripts of a trial our mutual ancestors were involved in, great stories about my third great-aunt and her husband. Amazing stuff! Don't give up! And remember, your very best good manners can never hurt! And send a Christmas card every year after! Maureen

HI Maureen, Wonderful results , hope this will be as fruitful. Here is what I have: my ggparents were Henry Devitt and Mary Skiffington.Henry was a constable/ policeman according to Mormon film recording the birth of their children Henry b1865( my Gfather),James E. b1867, Pat b1868,Eliza b1870 . They were born in Ballinasloe,Ahascragh,Bullaun,respectively.Henry came to the USA in 1870 . The others in 1871. They all ended in the Scranton, PA area. Another child was born in 1874 in PA The 1880 census shows all children living with other families as adopted. Anyone with any info I would appreciate receiving it. THANKS, Bill Davitt ----- Original Message ----- From: "Maureen" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Cc: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2006 3:11 AM Subject: [IRL-GALWAY] Writing to potential relativies > I've had two good experiences through the years: > > 1) When I phoned all the listings in the USA with my great-grandfather's > surname, the older ones of an age to have had the information I wanted > were mostly widows of men with our name ..... elderly widows who > knew absolutely nothing about their husband's families. > > Until I called the one furthest away ..... and that old guy said his > sister > (who had a different surname, of course!) had the entire family history > and he'd take my name and address and have her write! He also > took my email and said he'd let me know that way how it was coming > along. I got everything they had -- superb!!! I called about 45 listings > on a Saturday -- some weren't at home -- and I think it cost about 5 or > 6 dollars altogether. Not very much for what I got!!! And even the > ones who had changed their names were helpful as I no longer had to > wonder "what if" about them! > > 2) I also, at another time, sent a long email to a store in Ireland > owned > by relatives, which I found online. When I hadn't had a reply in a month, > I > edited down my letter, put the questions in the first paragraph, and sent > it again. > > Within two weeks I had a big brown envelope in the mail from Ireland. > The storekeepers were not interested in answering ... but they gave my > inquiry to another relative whose different name I would never have found > .... > his second great-grandmother and mine were sisters (the name on the > store), > and he has been absolutely wonderful, sending all manner of things > including photos of graves there and 50 miles away, research in city > directories of the early 1800s, books on the area, transcripts of a trial > our > mutual ancestors were involved in, great stories about my third great-aunt > and her husband. Amazing stuff! > > Don't give up! And remember, your very best good manners can never hurt! > And send a Christmas card every year after! > > Maureen > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I have been searching for 7 years for details of my Uncle's Naval record to no avail when I came accross a site at URL http://www.unithistories.com/ I supplied Hans Houterman with some details VIZ Interested in my uncle James Martin from Londonderry who joined the Royal Navy as an Education Officer (and Navigator) in 1920 and left in 1940. Served in the China Squadron, the New Zealand Division, Pacific and European Waters. He died at the age of 94 in April 1991 in Coleraine, N. Ireland. The full naval record of my Uncle has now appeared at the URL http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RN_officers_nonWW2.html#M Track down until you reach J Martin This may be of some use to folk who had relatives under arms in Europe in and around the WWII era. Liam "A bird in the bush is worth two in the cat"