Hi Sheila I haven't come across this piece of research but I would love to find out more about it. In my case my ancestor applied to have his wife and family join him about five years after he arrived, but the process wasn't completed for some reason. His application wasn't rejected but just stopped. I have assumed that his wife didn't want to travel to the other side of the world but there may have been other reasons. I can't imagine that she was too pleased with him for taking to crime and leaving her to look after 8 daughters, the youngest of whom was 1. He was a middle-aged man and this was his first arrest, and he obviously wasn't very good at this forgery business (I have seen a copy of the bill of exchange which was presented as evidence at his trial). Rhoda ----- Original Message ----- From: "S Tryk" <wombat@ecarthage.com> To: <perthshire@rootsweb.com>; <ursularclarke@yahoo.com> Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2011 12:26 AM Subject: Re: [PERTHSHIRE] the wives they left behind > Rhoda, > I seem to recall that a researcher in Melbourne was collecting all > those sad letters to the police and to newspapers asking for information > on the whereabouts of various men who had left wives and families behind > in England, Scotland and Ireland. They made heartbreaking -- and > informative -- reading. Do you know if these are available online now? > Sheila