Research Down Under
Thanks for the article "Empire Emigrants" by Sunny Jane Morton (March 2011). I used to think that some of my Yorkshire ancestors' siblings must have fallen off the face of the earth, but now I've been finding them in Victoria and Queensland, Australia. One very helpful and easy-to-use website is Australia Trove, which has a wealth of digitized newspapers. The site even lets you correct text garbled by the character recognition software. I've been able to find obituaries, estate notices and other articles pertaining to my kin.
Jenny Willis, Cincinnati

European Etiquette
What a fascinating article "Fork in the Road" was (History Matters, March 2011). Since I moved to Scotland several years ago, my in-laws have been beside themselves with my "inappropriate" use of eating utensils. I didn't know any other way to hold my knife and fork -- the only instruction I'd received as a child was to sit up straight, keep my elbows off of the table and chew with my mouth shut. So I was under the illusion for many years that I was a polite diner. How interesting to discover the root of why my cutlery use differs from that of my Scottish family! Oh, and I still eat in the good old American "zigzag" style -- my attempts at eating the European way have been unfortunate.
Carrie Hoggan, Glasgow, Scotland, via Buffalo, NY

Setting Sail
Just had to write a big thank-you for the article "Ocean of Records" (January 2011). Reading it inspired me to look again for my great-great-grandmother's passenger list. For more than four years, I've been searching for a passenger list for her and my great-aunt. I used few of your tips and found my great-aunt's record with my great-great-grandmother's passenger list from Danzig, Germany, to New York in 1901. It turns out my great-great-grandmother had a different last name on the voyage. Even though her headstone has the surname from her first marriage, I now hypothesize she may have remarried. The passenger list also indicates she was detained at Ellis Island. What a twist.
Sandy Jewell, Lincoln Park, Mich.