Good question Jim! Well, when I discovered my gt gt grandmother's name was Maria Clarke "of Limerick Ireland" I naively thought the "e" had been added on by mistake to what seemed to be an English name. Then, a friend with an interest in Irish surnames and their variations, suggested that the "e" may have been added to indicate that these Clarkes were RC, a practice that I'm told was not unusual in Ireland in the 1800-1900s. Then someone subsequently wrote me from Australia that Maria Clarke's grave is in the RC portion of the local country graveyard, the only member of the Saisells not buried in a protestant section. Maybe I should have said "probably" rather than "possibly" R.C. There is no hard and fast information, only supposition from the scant knowledge we have of this lady. There is no information about her birth date, place, parents, siblings, how and when she arrived in Australia. There was one Maria Clarke that we know of. She came from Portumna, Co. Galway, was protestant and could read and write. But my fellow Saisell/Clarke researchers seem to have discounted here because she was very young when she arrived in Australia, and probably in the wrong decade. Thanks for enquiring, Jim. I don't suppose you have a Maria Clarke tucked away in your family tree??? Happy New Year. Elaine, (in very wet and windy Ireland) ----- Original Message ----- From: JPMTCC@aol.com To: IRL-GALWAY-L@rootsweb.com ; elshie@eircom.net Sent: Friday, December 31, 2004 6:36 AM Subject: Re: IRL-GALWAY-D Digest V04 #213 In a message dated 12/30/04 8:19:33 PM Pacific Standard Time, IRL-GALWAY-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: Practising "Reply All"......if all people from Galway are nice then that must be where my so elusive gt gt grandmother, Maria Clarke (born circa 1818, possibly RC), came from! Anyone know of the lady, or Clarkes, or Marias......... Elaine Elaine, What does 'possibly RC' mean? Thanks, Jim