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. The informant for his death was a cousin of 1038 Main Street in Vancouver but her signature is hard to decipher. She was Laura E. and then the surname ends in 'cadden'. It could be Carlcadden. There is a link between James and a descendant of the Cusiter, Smith (Alexander Smith of Rendall) and Macgregor families from Orkney but whether it is a blood relationship or just one of friendship, I don't know. There is a Will listed in the BC archives but the archivists were unable to locate it, possibly because it was disproved. regards Philip --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Listen to over 20 online radio stations and watch over 5000 music videos on Yahoo! Music.