I'd like to welcome those people who have just joined this list, particularly those who are just venturing into their ancestry for the first time ever. You will find that initially you may just be interested in the names you are missing from your family tree, finding out who went where, who their descendants are - where they came from in this county or country in the first place. You may never find the name of that place, but I do hope that your interest in gathering names will become one which willhave you wanting to find out more about the lives of these people. I hope you will always have patience with those who begin once you have reached a stage where you are experienced - either as a family historian or someone who knows how to use the internet to find some of what you are looking for. My name is Jane. I live in Ireland, Dublin - a while back, in or about the middle of November I was asked if I would have any interest in becoming List Manager for this list. I did hum and haw for a little bit, checked my files for what I have on Monaghan and then said yes. I have no list 'rules', my interest in genealogy and history stems not from trying to search for my ancestors - mine come from many counties. You may or may not appreciate the kind of posts I make, however, I really do try to give references to my sources when I say that this or that happens or happened in Ireland. My interest in rootsweb mailing lists comes from what I know I have access to here in Ireland that many others do not and would appreciate. When I first became manager of this list I realised that there were people out there who do not know how to post a message to a list - you subscribe, receive messages, but cannot write of your interests to the list. Everyone began on the same step as you, remember that. So - in order to post a message to the list you need to click on this e mail address IRL-MONAGHAN-L@rootsweb.com You will find a new e mail comes up on your screen, then type in the surnames you are interested in on the subject line and in the body of the mail say something about your ancestors. You may find that someone replies to you through the list, or personally - you may find that no-one replies - please don't be disappointed. In time - someone who makes the connection may turn up - then again, they may never, but you may by having patience learn about the lives of people in Monaghan. For people who are new to this group - and oldies - in order to see what messages have been posted to this group in the past, then you go to www.rootsweb.com once there you go to 'Mailing Lists' from there you may highlight/click on the 'Interactive search' or ' Threaded Archives List' and type in IRL-MONAGHAN in the box provided. For interactive Search then you will get a page showing 1999 and 2000 and once you click on one of those you will be able to key in whatever word it is you are interested in and check out whatever posts have been made with that word in the subject line, if you go the 'Threaded Archives' route - then you get a page with a month by month account of how may mails were posted to the list and you searcvh each one separately. There are some wonderful people on this list, with much more intimate connections to Monaghan than I have. Some I have met, some never, we've talked to one another off list in the past re graveyards and cameras and things. I don't want to post your names to the list - I remember when I first came into genealogy that some of you impressed me so much. I know that I accepted this list because it was one of the first I began posting in earnest to - and because of you. I thank you, for all you taught me and the interest you gave me. I would really like to see this list come to life, that people would click on that e mail address and we could see who is interested in what or who from where in Monaghan, that we could learn about their lives, those who went to different parts of the world and those who remained in Ireland. A roll call as such - you never know who will check out the archives in the future. Jane