G'day to you Carol and Diddy...First, let me apologise if it is inappropriate to respond to both of you with the one posting. As you will have been gathering, I am a neophyte when it comes to this form of communication. Although I have been involved with computers since the mid 1970's, this side of computer use is relatively new to me. I can only assure you that anything I might do, such as displaying my email address (which I have removed as instructed [thanks Carol]), will be from ignorance, not arrogance. Carol, you gave the marriage details as Brandon P Lynch. Can you confirm that it reads Brandon, not Brendan? Just so that when I follow up your leads I am on the right trail. As far as following those leads and suggestions that you guys (I hope you use the term "guys" the same way we do over here) have provided, I will do so. Its just that I have very little free time at the moment and just responding to your efforts and questions is all I can achieve at the moment. As far as PJ is concerned. I don't know what the PJ stands for but have always thought that Patrick Joseph would be a strong possibility. I was in my very early teens when I saw the newspaper clipping, so that would mean the latest he could have been murdered would have been 1968. I seem to recall that the clipping was quite aged, so a number of years can be taken from that date. That would put the latest date at around 1960. I suspect that my mother brought the clipping with her when we immigrated to Australia in 1959, so that should peg it back another year. I gather that my mum and her brother PJ were very close, so I am assuming that they close in age too. I also seem to recall that the article mentioned a young man having been murdered, not a boy. This would put his age at death between 18 and 30 perhaps. Mum was born in 1929 (now finally confirmed thanks to your efforts) and so PJ was probably born between 1924 and 1934. Mum spoke very little about her youth but did mention that her and PJ would take the truck after the farm hands had finished for the day and she would drive around while PJ would be jumping and diving into the hay in the back of it. Given that mum went to boarding school in England as a teenager, I would imagine that she would have been around ten years of age when her and PJ would be doing this. Also, given that she was driving and not PJ, it suggests to me that she may have been the older of the two. I don't recall actually reading anything in the clipping that pinpointed where PJ was murdered but thinking back on it, for some reason I get the impression that it was in England, possibly London itself. I suspect that PJ was in England at the same time as my mother was there at boarding school. So putting all that together, it would seem that the earliest that PJ could have been murdered would have been around 1942 and the latest 1959. Of course all this is conjecture and reliance on memories as a child. As a starting point I have been concentrating on that period, as yet to no avail. Of course my failure to uncover any reference to this event is probably only an indication of my inexperience given what you guys have uncovered that I also failed to find. I also feel that mum probably wouldn't have agreed to immigrate to Australia if it meant leaving PJ behind. As we immigrated in February 1959, I suspect his death must have been in 1958 or earlier. I wonder if PJ was alive when mum got married and if so, if he might have witnessed her marriage. I will have to follow up on getting that certificate. If he is listed as a witness then it would narrow the dates even further. Nicole (my daughter), put in the year 1925 and Westport as a guess. We have an old photo of mum and her sister standing either side of a young man, all three linked arm in arm and we suspect that the man in the photo might be PJ. He appears to be in his early twenties. If this photo is indeed of PJ then the dates would have to be between 1946 and 1958. Can't think of anything else I can add about PJ that would be of assistance. Finally, I have to say that your efforts have touched us. I told my daughter about the info on mum's birth and marriage and when she asked how I knew, I told her about this site and your endeavours. She was quite overcome that strangers would go to such an effort to be of assistance and wanted me to pass onto you her sincere thanks. I have always told her that the Irish are a very friendly and helpful, as well as charming, witty and intelligent people and your response to us has confirmed this. Thank you! Thank you for your assistance and for adding to the richness of my daughter's inheritance by showing her the quality and the value of having an Irish bloodline. Cheers to you both....Dermot
