Hi Ken My name is Paul Stoba, I was born in Liverpool, England and I now live in Sydney, Australia. I have recently started to research my family history & I believe I have traced back to Thomas Stoba (born 1708, died 1777) from Caerlaverock.  See attd spreadsheet As part of a visit to my relatives in the UK, I went to Caerlaverock & Southfields in October 2010. Years ago a distant Stoba relation told me that there was a family myth that in ancient times we were from Macedonia & had been slaves who somehow ended up in Scotland.  Interestingly, this has some credibility as the ancient capital of Macedonia was Stobo. I came across your comment on the Maxwell Genealogy Forum about the Stobas' having been in the the Caerlaverock area for 800-900 years. Would you be able to give me any pointers as to where I should look to find out about those ancient Stobas? Thanks in anticipation Paul