Hello from Salt Lake City!

Greetings from Salt Lake City!

I arrived at 2:45 pm MST yesterday. It is rather chilly here, no snow on the ground other than in those sunless corners. Supposed to get snow tomorrow and Sunday.

It was a good flight but long! I flew from Nashville to Las Vegas--3 hours 45 minutes. And I was stupid and crammed myself in a window seat. I should have sat on the aisle so I could stretch better. But I made it fine and stretched a lot in Las Vegas on my big 35 minute layover.

I was able to see some slot machines at the gate in Las Vegas. I played $2.00 in quarter machine and got zilch. I decided to go one more dollar and Whoa! I won $11.25! So not a bad return on the "investment". I stopped at $3.00. No use losing!

It just getting light now at 7:29 am. The sunset last night was great over the mountains and LDS Temple at Temple Square. I am staying at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel, right across the street from Temple Square and next door to the Family History Library.

I reeled through some records last night...this new James family I am tracking down moved a lot!! They were in Long Framlington and then Eglingham and then Edlingham, but I wonder if that is just writing errors since they sound almost alike when spoken in that dialect? More about that below...

Originally, I tied my great-great-great-grandmother, Susan James, as the daughter of George James and Susannah Maule Barnard Booth James born 1806 baptized 1807 in Alnwick. But the census in 1851 says she was born in Eglingham, as does my great-great-grandfather, George Bell. The ages she reported also makes her born 1803 or 1804. When I found George Bell's baptism in Edlingham in 1837, I found references to other James and noted them, but hadn't followed through on really tracing them. Ian Cairns, a Maule relative doing research in England on the big Maule family, recently brought this James family to my attention. So I decided to look at them. There is a Susan James born 1804 in Eglingham in that family. Also her brothers names were George and Robert. The Alnwick Susan had a brother Henry and nor references to George or Robert. On the 1826 marriage entry in Howick for Thomas Bell and Susan James, the witnesses were George James and Robert James. Tracing the newer James family back, the names which repeatedly are used are George, Robert, John, William, Joseph and Mary. The children of Thomas and Susan Bell were John, Mary, Robert, Thomas, George, Joseph and William. Soooo...things are tending to turn toward this new James family as mine. Hmmm....do I claim them, or do they claim me???

Hopefully today will shed some light on things...

I ate at one of my favorite restaurant's last night...JB's. It's here at the hotel. Got my all you can eat fried shrimp and fries for $9.99 and lemonade. Salad, soup and dessert bar also. So I was fat and happy when I hit the library. Later I went to Red Rock Brewing Company and had Holiday Ale. It was a nice spicy brew.

Also, in the James family I elaborated on, the maternal lines are Cumine and Common. So I was looking for them as well, and they moved around as well.

Well, I need to jump in the shower, tidy up the room, go grab a cinnamon roll for breakfast and head next door. Library is open 8 am to 9 pm. It's an all-dayer for me today and tomorrow. Back to Nashville on Monday.

Later guys! Someone did mention the library has wifi, so I'm taking my Mac with me today.

Wish me much success!

Mark