Good morning My great g/father, William Robert Renison landed in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in about 1859 on the ship Vocalist (the list states he was from Tipperary). His subsequent marriages and children are well documented but there are 2 very important things which seem to be unknown :- His birth date and where he was born. He was from the Shannon Valley, Tipperary (this according to a genealogy book about the Renisons in South Africa). Subsequent to my taking an interest in my family history, it has emerged that there was another Renison living in South Africa at the time with the name Benjamin Joseph Renison born 8 May 1836, in Lockeen Glebe, Parsonstown, Ireland. If this was his brother or even cousin, perhaps they were from the same area in Ireland? There was also a sister with the name of Jane (possible birth date 17 March 1844). Rumour has it that another possible brother was Thomas Renison who went to America in 1868 and became the mayor of Salinas, California. There has also been a suggestion that Michael Renison who appeared on 1911 census in Ireland was also a brother? If there is a connection, the ancestry of the more "famous" Thomas or remaining Michael might give clues to the origins of my great grandfather. Perhaps related Renisons still live in Ireland today? My g/grandfather became a "schoolmaster" in the farming district of the Eastern Cape of South Africa, fathered 8 children and is said to have been an entertainer who played the violin at various events in the farming areas of Aberdeen, Willowmore, Jansenville and Steytlerville of the Eastern Cape of South Africa. There are many, many Renison descendants in South Africa who would be extremely happy to know more about his origins in Ireland. Does anyone on this list have any information or can link me up with anyone who would have baptism (Church of Ireland) or birth records of the areas in Ireland mentioned. I would also be pleased to hear from anyone with an interest in this surname as I would really love to find out more about the origins of the Renisons in Ireland. Antoinette Saunders