Hi Jill,

Not sure we have connections or not yet. Just got started on my family genealogy two months ago.

My great-grandfather was Joseph Cairns, born in Gilford but claimed County Armagh as his home county, Northern Ireland. Great-grandmother was Rachel Donaldson from Seapatrick/Tullylish, County Down. They were married in Laurencetown in 1882/83. They lived most of their married lives in the Glasgow area (Johnstone, Paisley, Rutherglen) before immigrating to Maine, USA in 1910. Children included John, Joseph, James, Elizabeth, Christian (died in Scotland), William, Thomas and Christopher who, all, also immigrated to USA.

I know that Joseph had a brother, John, who lived in Renfrewshire in 1913. This was the year that a nephew listed his uncle Joseph in Maine as his point of visit and the ship's manifest entry showed "JNO, father in Renfrewshire" as next of kin.

I can't find anything else about Joseph's siblings or ancestry. Since I have run accross your name several times in the 'Cairns' surname search, I thought I might try to see if we had some nexus.

Regards,

Donn Cairns
Colorado Springs, CO
dtcairns@comcast.net