Philip - When one puts into the GROS site just the year, 1861, and not a general range of years, one gets 203 hits for a James Thomson born in Orkney.... ~~~~~~ 1 1861-THOMSON-JAMES-M- PAPA WESTRAY-ORKNEY- (ref.#)033/02 0010 2 1861-THOMSON-JAMES-M- SOUTH RONALDSAY AND BURRAY-ORKNEY- (ref.#)029/00 0041 3 1861-THOMSON- JOHN JAMES-M- KIRKWALL AND ST OLA-ORKNEY- (ref.#)021/00 0127 ~~~~~~ So, knowing from Lisa that the So Ronaldsay one is not yours (because of birthdate), you might try to log onto the GROS site and download the image for the one born on Papa Westray... it could be yours. ** on 10/31/05 12:49 PM, philip booker wrote: > Dear Listers > > Thank you for the information on James Thomson. I have been to the British > Columbia archives on Vancouver Island and also to the Vancouver Library on the > mainland and have a copy of James' death certificate aswell as death and > funeral notices and short obituaries from the newspapers. The death > certificate provided his supposed exact birth date. Both the papers and > certificate gave his birth location as Orkney. >