In a message dated 9/12/04 10:31:32 AM Pacific Daylight Time, pparnold@earthlink.net writes: > Ken > I thought your request was terribly interesting - and I did poke around to > see what I could find (not too much that was helpful). I > couldn't see why this child would have been born in Tennessee. So the > father, I assume (such a great start for research) was in > the British Navy and then in private service on a ship? > I realized I know very little about sailors from this particular time frame > (1870's), and even less about British sailors. > Were you able to learn more about Agnes being born in Tennessee? Or about > the father? > Share with the list - I'm sure it is possible to research these sailors, but > I don't know how. > > And thanks for the kind words - this list has many wonderful members! > > Pam Pam, The hunt for the elusive birth in Tennessee in 1871 continues. There are some avenues left to search, and some kind volunteers are looking into them as I "speak", but it is not looking good. No civil registration in Tennessee until 1914; family arriving in Tennessee probably a month too late to be enumerated in 1870 .... :-(( The case is just as strange as it looks. The father was from Wick, Caithness, and I know about all his siblings and 3 generations of ancestors. The mother is still completely unknown. The father was a captain on sailing vessels between UK and Aus/NZ from about 1850 to about 1867 or later. I have found through the ShipsList and Mariners List all the ships he captained as well as when he captained them and where they sailed, plus construction and life details on each ship. The first child was born in "Straits of Mallacca", so probably on board ship and so the wife apparently travelled with her husband, the captain. The next two were born in Liverpool (the normal home port of the father). And the fourth was born in 1870 or 1871 in "Tennessee, USA" (NO other details). A family story is that the father ran (briefly I suppose) an unsucessful sawmill to manufacture axe handles in Tennessee. By the 1881 census, widowed father & 4 children are in Liverpool again. I know of descendants of the first child down to the present, mostly in South Africa. But I know nothing more about the other 3 children after the 1881 census. Children 2 & 3 were found on FreeBDM, but mother not indicated. The search continues ..... Ken Harrison North Vancouver, Canada Unless specifically stated otherwise in this message, there is no intentional attachment on this e-mail transmission.