Hi Jill and Les, Thank you both for your replies. The Sinclair connection is that the wife of John Sinclair was apparently Christine Munro. In 1840, they wrote a letter to her brother, John Munro in Glasgow, describing the Palmyra voyage and conditions in Adelaide. The original letter is held by John's descendants on the family property at Fort William. I wish I had more details, but do not. Finding this property and its present owners may be a long shot, but worth a try. If the descendant who inherited the property was female, and married some generations ago, this would make the finding of the place even more fifficult. The Sinclairs were originally from Kilmelford, but left Scotland from Glasgow. Cheers, John.

2009/7/2 John McIntyre. <jsmci@bigpond.net.au> > > Hi Jill and Les, >                      Thank you both for your replies. The Sinclair connection is that the wife of John Sinclair was apparently Christine Munro. In 1840, they wrote a letter to her brother, John Munro in Glasgow, describing the Palmyra voyage and conditions in Adelaide. The original letter is held by John's descendants on the family property at Fort William. I wish I had more details, but do not. Finding this property and its present owners may be a long shot, but worth a try. If the descendant who inherited the property was female, and married some generations ago, this would make the finding of the place even more fifficult. > The Sinclairs were originally from Kilmelford, but left Scotland from Glasgow. > > Cheers, > John. HI John Instead of looking for a wild connection with 169 year break in knowledge it would probably be better to do the genealogy. HOW do you know that anyone is still on a croft somewhere in the Fort William area who may have a letter in their possession? WHAT is the "property" called? It may well be that it was no more than a smallholding of land that got subsumed into the "improvements" in agriculture  at that time. Its very possible that following generations left the area any time in the following century and a half. VERY few people are still where their families were from that far back. Even the vast estates and castles have been sold over and again, gone into disrepair, all contents destroyed - etc etc etc. If the Sinclairs had already gone from Argyll to Invernesshire, they could be ANYWHERE by the end of the 1800's. First give us the NAME of the place you think you want -- Les is up there, he has a great local knowledge of the area. And will be able to give you a good idea of the type of situation it is in. for instance The nearest the IGI has, on a passing look is John Sinclair Marrying Chirst McPhee 15 Jan 1839 Glenelg Invernessshire batch M110974 Scotlandspeople will help you more. Do the family step by step -- all those back to these people, then side ways to connect all the siblings and direct relatives, and then forwards to the present day to see where they are - at least to 1901. If anyone is still left in the Fort William area by then, you have something at least to work on. regards Jill Bowis www.benderloch.org.uk/forum  - Ardchattan Archive : - history, geology, ecology, genealogy, weather, webcam, local forum www.kintaline.co.uk  - where we are, what we do: Kintaline Plant and Poultry Centre www.lorn.org.uk Local Origins Rural Network - bringing local produce to the community