Hi Ed One thing I do know is that your George Laverty and Elizabeth Brown were Protestants. No Catholic Irishman or Scotsman would have named their son William! I would be very surprised if he was a Catholic. The name George also indicates a Protestant background. I am told that the I.R.A. blew up the BMD's records in Dublin in 1921 and that is why it is so difficult to trace Irish ancestors. I know because I have Irish ancestors as well as Scots. On the Scots side I'm back to 1510 but can get no further back than 1800 on my Irish side. The Scots on my side where all Presbyterians and the Irish were Catholics. When my grandfather married an Irish Catholic the children had to be brought up as Catholics. I am certain this has happened in a lot of families. What is interesting is the name of George and Elizabeth's second son, Isaac born in 1817. Possibly this was the name of Elizabeth's father. There is an Isaac Brown who married a Mary Smyth at Banbridge, Co. Down 13/4/1788. As you know Co. Down is next door to Co. Armagh and there is even another village called Banbridge in Co.Armagh. Possibly these were Elizabeth's parents. Another possibility for Elizabeth's parents considering that the first daughter was named Jane is an Isaac Brown born abt. 1740 in Crosscanonby, Cumberland, England. Cumberland is on the Scottish border just across the Irish Sea. He married a Jane Smithson 12/11/1771. There was a lot of lowland Scots and northern English people who went to settle in Northern Ireland at this time. One of my wife's ancestors among them. Maybe you should consider checking those two out. Laverty is a pretty rare name in Ireland unless it's a corruption of Lafferty. ATB Ken Brown OZ