Yes, I totally understand that fact.  There is another person on this list researching Scanlan's and we have no connections that we can see.   As far as letters, my father had to have done some correspondance to know where his family lived in the States.  We were not allowed to read any letters until he had read them and decided to let us read them.  I was referring in the previous post to what his brother said.   I have written with sadness what we could not know.  The only letters from Ireland came from his brother when I was old enough to know.  Letters came from one sister over here and from his own uncle's stepdaughter in a different location.   His brother could have sent information to me via my father that I never saw.  I found some after he was dead and his brother long gone by then.  Brother said that a cousin was a founder of a library but he was long dead by the time I found out.  He might have been able to help but not when he is dead.   Folks far from Ireland bemoan the fact that they are so far away and in my case the information was right there and I in a different way have no access either.  So very sad. Alanna --- On Sat, 3/26/11, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [IRL-CLARE] John Scanlan obit To: [email protected] Date: Saturday, March 26, 2011, 1:57 PM I think the obituary was posted for anyone who on the list who might be researching Scanlans. Every family unique, of course, but my grandparents corresponded frequently with their siblings back home, and my grandmothers definitely felt their siblings were still their kin. Diane ------------------------------- 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