Can anybody give me more information about Alexander CLARKE of Eriboll, and whether or not he had any connection with a JONES family with lands in Demerera, presumably a sugar plantation in British Guyana? Our family goes back to Annie Fraser ROSS, daughter of Lachlan ROSS and Hannah MATHER. I have in my possession a solid gold signet ring which belonged to Annie, and is beautifully inscribed AFR, then on the reverse the dates 14 Feb 1867, 28 June 1872, 4 May 1879. I now know that these are the dates of death of her younger brother Thomas, her mother and her father, all of whom are buried in Arnaboll Burial Ground. I have not been able to see the grave as yet, but A.S.Cowper gives the MI as Lachlan Ross, native parish of Kincardine, Ross-shire, faithful servant more than 50 years in family Clarkes of Eriboll, d. Thurso 4:5:1879 aged 88. Wife Ann Fraser d.Eriboll 1837 aged 46, second wife Hannah Mather d Eriboll 28:6:1872 aged 57, children Isabella 1829 12, Thomas 14:2:1867 15 Annie's brother James had married and moved to Thurso by 1879 (probably where Lachlan died) and her brothers John Clark ROSS and William Fraser Mather ROSS (the former was the eldest son and presumably given the name Clark as a mark of respect) had emigrated to the USA, so Annie would have been suddenly on her own. She next appears in 1881 on the census as a domestic servant with Mary Elizabeth JONES, born Demerera 'with landed property' in Paddington, London. The following year, in 1882, Annie married Alexander McKAY, a policeman from Tongue, Sutherland. The marriage took place in London and was witnessed by a William Henry JONES. Annie and Alexander settled in Glasgow and called their daughter Mary Elizabeth Jones McKAY. I now speculate that after the death of her father somehow the CLARKE family found her the job in London, and as the family had very little money it seems likely that either Alexander CLARKE or Mary JONES gave her the ring that I now have so that she could remember her family far away in Sutherland if she couldn't visit the grave. Would there be estate papers for Eriboll - if so, where? I would also like to know more about an Evander McIVER. John Clark ROSS (who founded Rossville in Texas) named one of his sons Evander McIver ROSS, supposedly after a mentor who had helped him get established as a blockade runner during the US Civil War and eventually emigrate to Texas. Sue Mackay