This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/YWC.2ACI/3938.3947.1.1.1 Message Board Post: Scott An appendix to my last message: Stralohan is indeed a townland. Although our family always referred to it as Stralohan or Straloghan this seems to be the modern spelling. It used to be known as Sraleaghan. It's total area is just 199 acres (about one third of a square mile). Another correction: the Hustons didn't take over the Lawrence farm at Stralohan when my great uncle died. However, the Hustons were neighbours and great friends of the Lawrences. In fact, there is still contact between the two families. The letter you have transcribed at http://users.ev1.net/~dcook2/codo/Lawrences.htm is a great find for us. I am almost certain it was written by my great great grandfather, James Lawrence. It gives a great insight into the difficult times in rural Ireland in the 1850s. In the letter James mourns the loss of his eight year old son, John. Three years after the letter was written James had another son. They called him John. He never married and is recorded in the 1901 census as living with his brother James (my great grandfather) and his family at the house in Stralohan. You asked about Carrmahan, the place mentioned in the letter as being the home of your ancestor, Richard Lawrence ("...The Lathers and Farises that got your place in Carrmahon..."). This is referred to in old records as Corramahon, a townland in Leitrim. Corramahon and Stralohan were in the same parish (Drumreilly) and were probably a short distance apart - certainly no more than a mile or so, possibly much closer. Ian