Hi Bob Your inquiry about your family related to the Roseneath Coffee Plantation sounds very exciting. I am sending your e-mail to my brother in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to see whether he can dig out something positive (sadly he is not on e-mail yet, else I would have passed it on to you for direct contact with him). In any case, his name is Ahmed Firoze Sameer, and can be reached at No. 5, Canal Lane, off 37th. Lane, Colombo 6, Sri Lanka. Tel: (0094)-1-436418 (office) or (0094)-1-508524 (home). I would also suggest to you to send e-mails to all the local English newspapers in Colombo stating your desire to make contact with anyone who has information about your family and its related entities, giving them all theninformation you possess. They will certainly print it as a news item and you may receive some positive feedback from the general public. The e-mail addresses of the local newspapres are as follows:- DAILY NEWS: (English daily with the largest circulation) edcdn(a)sri.lanka.net SUNDAY LEADER: leader(a)lanka.net SUNDAY TIMES: editor(a)suntimes.is.lk ISLAND: island(a)lanka.ccom.lk Also info(a)infolabs.is.lk or hettiarachchi(a)amc.uva.nl may provide you with some information or even research. Do send them e-mails. The Tea Company started off by Thomas Lipton, now called LIPTONS, is still in business and I am sure we could get some information from their archives. I do not have a contact e-mail address for Liptons but will try to get it from my brother in Colombo. BTW I am presently livuing and working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as an IT Consultant, and hope to be in Colombo between Jan-15 and Feb-10, during which time I could do some searching for you in case we do not get any positive feedback prior to that. You may be aware that Coffee was Sri Lanka'a main export crop during that period and it was the blight that killed the coffee planation that urged the British planters to experiment with Tea which today has turned out to be the World's number one. Thanks to them. There are also some Sri Lankan Websites you may visit and look at the possibility of seeking more information as follows:- www.lanka.net www.lacnet.org www.lk Good Luck! Will keep you posted on whatever I am able to unearth from my own contacts in Colombo. Regards Muhammad Fazli Sameer c/o Arabic Computer Systems Ltd., P O Box 2645, Riyadh 11461, Saudi Arabia Tel: (00966)-1-476-3777 X-147 (office 9:00 am to 5:00 pm) (00966)-1-455-0157 (home) Riyadh time is +3:00 Hours GMT Fax: (00966)-1-476-3196 > -----Original Message----- > From: Robert H. Ferree [SMTP:robertf@innercite.com] > Sent: Friday, October 16, 1998 3:18 AM > To: SRILANKA-L(a)rootsweb.com > Subject: Roseneath Coffee Plantation > > Hi, > > I have family (Peter McNaught & William Turner) connections with a > 19th century coffee plantation known then as the Roseneath Estate. > It failed in the 1880's and the myth prevails that it was > purchased by Thomas Lipton. Correspondence that I have refers to > anonther nearby estate as the Hermitage. Both families were of the > Dumbarton/Roseneath/Rhu, Scotland area. I have little information > as to how these families were connected to the plantation and as > to others that may have been; a co-operative perhaps. A bit of, > perhaps unrelated, information; there was a "Provident Dumbarton > Society 1817" with which they may have been associated. > > There are more details that I have, but for now I am looking for a > starting point with my research there and would appreciate any > assistance. > > Thank you. > > Bob > -- > Robert H. & Doris A. Ferree > P.O. Box 116 > Grizzly Flats California 95636 U.S.A. > robertf(a)innercite.com