First, thanks to all who have written me such helpful and informative emails! It's wonderful how generous people are with their time, resources, and information. Second, whilst rereading the letters, another *possible* clue leapt out at me--I had always dismissed it as plain silliness before, but there's a slim chance someone out there may have an idea of what it means. There is a very brief note from 1880 in which my g-granduncle seems to refer, enigmatically, to himself as 'Mr. Perth's son.' I have checked and 'PERTH' is almost fabulously rare as a surname--only one household in Scotland in the 1881 census, and a half dozen or so more in England. The few PERTHs in the US census of 1880 are all of Germanic origin. Plus, my g-granduncle and g-grandfather, clearly and consistently used the surname ANDERSON in this country, although my complete inability to find them or their relatives in any UK records has led to a *very* slight suspicion it was not their proper name. It is extremely probable that this reference to 'Mr. Perth' is an inside joke, the key to which was lost with Uncle Dave's death almost 75 years ago. But on the off chance, can anyone out there think of another (and possibly genealogically relevant) explanation of why he would refer to himself as 'Mr. Perth's son?' Thanks again, Brian Chaffin Minneapolis, MN, USA