In 2006 Max White published a very nice article in Capensis, "Early 19th Century Progenitors in the Royal Regiment of Artillery: James Deacon and Ester McLane, and their RA relatives, Dalgleish and Powrie". Mr. White does a fine job of connecting the dots, but there are still gaps. The situation is not helped by the fact that the progenitor information for all three of these families in SA Genealogies is incomplete or simply incorrect. Also, records such as the St. Georges' registers have bee incompletely or incorrectly transcribed. Sue Mackay, in her kind and quiet way, has now provided information that may cause this whole wall to come tumbling down. Sue's information is: > Esther Deacon born 1 Feb 1800, daughter of James Deacon and Ester McClane. > Family Search has a baptism for Esther Deacon, daughter of James Deacon > and Esther McLean, born 1 Feb 1800 and baptised 9 March 1800 in Christ Church, > Tynemouth, Northumberland. The story is confusing, first of all because it is a confusing story. Also, the records are incomplete. Since these men and their families were part of the British military, they show up intermittently (if at all) in the usual civilian records. Also, some of the characters died while in service, so there are no military records (discharge papers) for them. The facts are these: James Deacon, James Dalgleish, and Robert Powrie were members of the Royal Artillery. (Deacon is not fully proven, I believe.) The Deacons are reputed to be from Ireland, but this (to me) is doubtful. Dalgleish and Powrie were Scottish. Dalgleish's county of origin, Lanarkshire, has been mis-transcribed as Lancashire. James Dalgleish married Eliza Felton. They had a son, James, often confused with his father. James Deacon married Esther McClane. (Ester, Hester, McLane, ...) James and Esther had a daughter, Esther Deacon (see above.) Esther Deacon has been confused with her mother. Esther is not in SA Genealogies. Two sons were born in Cape Town. Esther Deacon married Thomas Marrin. No children. James Deacon died. Eliza Felton died. Esther McClane remarried James Dalgleish. Thomas Marrin died. Robert Powrie married (she remarried) Esther Deacon. Dalgleish stayed in Cape Town. He later moved to Port Elizabeth without his wife but with his namesake son. Presumably, she had died. Robert Powrie's first child, James, was born in Cape Town. The family returned to England, where a second child, Martha, was born. They filed a petition to be 1820 Settlers, but were refused for the formal scheme. Notwithstanding, they returned to Cape Town in 1820. Keith