Pat, I have had very similar thoughts. I think what folks like you and I have to do is pay a professional researcher to scour every Tyrone record there is and, failing that, every other Ulster record in the world. But that would take no small fortune. All I know is that my ancestor Hugh Linn or Lynn was born SOMETIME in 1753 SOMEWHERE in Ulster but probably Tyrone since the woman he married was from Tyrone. What I would love to do is get some male Linns and Lynns who live in Tyrone today to do a Y-DNA study since my brother has already done so. Of course, if we did find a match, we'd have to hope the person already knows his ancestry. I wonder if many or any folks in Ireland in that day and age kept family Bibles. I have a good bit of German ancestry also, and many German settlers in America kept family Bibles. Loretta -----Original Message----- From: cotyroneireland-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:cotyroneireland-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Pat O'Neill Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 11:45 PM To: CoTyroneIreland-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [CoTyIre] searching for family Searching for grandmothers and the like is a wonderful merry-go-round, isn't it? But it's weird ! It defies logic. On LDS BMD you put in your grandfather's name and date of birth and place of birth and it gives your grandfather's birth date and place of birth and dates . but it doesn't tell you who he married. If you sign on for the paid searches, you have to tell them names and places and guess at the dates, before it will tell you the names and places and confirm the dates If you send into Proni or Dublin then the form has to be filled in with the names and the places before they can tell you the names and the places. At least with LDS if you can search through all of it over and over and maybe you can guess at the possible connections but that is using up my old age. Maybe I'll meet them first and ask them - unless someone has a beter idea . . . Pat