Bless you Carol for your kindness. I'm grinning all inside and out.

I just got home from work, and there was your first message, which I was sure it was too late to reply to. And then your next message said you had gone to the library and looked it up(without waiting for my reply.) No parents listed, as I was afraid, but the notation on the sister proves that this was Asahel Willison of Allegany County, MD/Tucker County, WV. His sister was Mrs. Bascom B. Parsons of Parsons, West Virginia - this was Owen Willison and Maria Wilson's daughter, Rosa Belle Willison, the last surviving member of the family.

One wonders if he had been in touch with his sister, or if he was just remembering her from when he left home? Those are the unanswered questions of genealogy. Thank you so much for the answers you have provided today. At least I know it will be worthwhile to write for a copy of the death registration now.

On another note, Joyce Wilby, of the Alert Bay Library and Musuem kindly searched the Alert Bay "Pioneer Journal" for the appropriate time period and was unable to locate an obituary - so the death registration was my last best hope. Do these registration's make any mention of occupation. I just wonder what he did in British Columbia all those years. Was there lumbering in that area? Tucker County, WV, where Asahel grew up was a great lumbering area.

I know I'm blathering in my glee, so I'll close with another thank you for your great help.

Donnie Nazelrod