Hi Andrew, Do you know how common the surname Shannon is? YOu don't provide any dates so we can find you a zillion. Search IGI (www.familysearch.org) for lots <grin>. In both your queries you say that this list is your last resort. That suggests to me that there is a lot more that you could do. You have run out of search strategies after apparently doing a lot of work, whatever that means. It might mean you have done a lot of internet surfing. Donno! IT's different for us all. However there is ONE SOLUTION to this! So no matter where it is we are stuck, here is the way to get unstuck: LEARN MORE. There are only two places that any of us doing genealogy should ever be stuck: we are stuck waiting to get access to a record we know exists and that we hope will be our big breakthrough or we are stuck because we need to LEARN MORE. Ie we don't know what to do next. To LEARN MORE we need to find sources that know more than we do already. Where do we go to do that? NOT an internet list. An Internet list is full of people who don't know what to do next and hoping to get lucky, like ourselves. To find people that know a lot more than ourselves, we take courses (many are free on the internet), read books and articles, and join genealogy societies (and attend their meetings and seminars). People who do KNOW MORE are recognised by their peers as being experts in an area or in teaching people like ourselves, do not hang out on these lists. They are busy writing books, preparing lectures, and .... learning more! They NEVER stop learning. Even people that have spend 10 years or more obtaining records for people from the Scottish Archives, for example, feel they know little. The more they do the more they realize they don't know much. On the other hand, people on Internet lists get insulted if you suggest that there might be more for them to learn. That's why they are on these lists instead of writing Vol 3 of their family history or giving talks. Exactly what has the info you need now is hard to say. When I get stuck, I always LEARN MORE and I have found the following: 1. Learn more about how to do genealogy in the areas you are trying to do it in. Have you read a couple books on Scottish genealogy this year? How about Irish? Or articles? have you attended a seminar? There are free daily genealogy newsletters you can sub to and learn a little more every day...on and on it goes. 2. Study the history of the place. OFten this'll result in breakthroughs, esp. in Ireland, as Irish genealogy is, as the truism goes, local history, local history, local history. You arent' there yet but a study of Irish history will help you. 3. Follow your intuition. Often that will lead yo to what you need to learn. Probably you need to study more Scottish genealogy. Irish records are not good. You must always, always, squeeze every bit out of Scottish records because the IRish are not good. esp. with common names, you absolutely must learn to use Scottish censuses, civil registration, and estate records. It's not possible to give you specific suggestions becauase you dont' give us dates or religion, so we can't say "try Irish civil registration' as we don't know when your ancestors were born -- before or after it began. However I will say that people didn't hire servants who didn't have references and who they didn't know. OFten their house servants came from their estates or the estates of their friends, relatives, and neighbors. Those all could have had estates in Ireland. A study of the employer's family records, OPRs, vital registration (whatever) will disclose the size of their estate and the names of their friends. I learned about this in a seminar on estate records....I forgot everything else in it so I better take it again <grin>. The trouble with looking for servants and townspeople in Ireland is that there are few records of them. They are not in several 19th century census substitutes because those are essentially land tax records (Tithe Applotments, etc). There are no surviving complete censues till 1901. We do get by, but you need to learn how to do Irish genealogy and you need family data. Perhaps you have heard (if not, you need to study up on Irish genealogy) that it's not psosible to research poor people in Ireland before about 1820. That's because of the lack of 19th century census records and then the loss of church records. However sometimes YOU CAN succeed if you learn a lot and are lucky with your ancestors. One really important strategy is to resaerch the estate records. You will need to begin to do that in Scotland and then look for connections to estates in Ireland. Luckily there is a HUGE amount of info on the PRONI website: www.proni.gov.uk . It often provides information linking to estates elsewhere in the UK. But I would personally read IRvine's "Your Scottish Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans". It focuses on records you can get if you are not in Edinburgh through LDS and other sources. If you own it, read it again. Everytime I reread my copy I learn more -- and get ideas on strategies to pursue on overcoming my brick walls. Best of luck! Linda Merle Original Message ---------------------------------- From: "Andrew Murray Shannon" <ranamf@nex.net.au> Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 19:42:03 +1100 >I am hoping that this list will be able to assist me in finding information >on my g.g.g.grandfather and grandmother as all avenues open to have failed. > >John Shannon (Land Factor) and Martha McLure (Domestic Servant) were, as far >as I know, born in Northern Ireland. These two are listed as the parents of >Hugh Shannon who married Margaret Hamilton and settled in Hawick, Roxburgh. > >I have not been able to find out if they married and had further children as >Hugh Shannon was noted as being illegitimate. > >Any assistance will be greatly appreciated. > >Andrew > > ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at mail.fea.net