Betty Ann says: "...quite likely their father would have been named William....William Osborne appears twice in the 1796 Flax Growers List, reference # 13786 Donegal & # 23971 Londonderry (I do not know what these numbers refer to). The 1796 Spinning Wheel Premium Entitlements List shows Osburn, William, living in Raphoe." Betty Ann, Just in case you don't already know it, the "Flax Growers List" and the "Spinning Wheel Entitlement List" are two different informal names of the same document. The full title (which will help you make sense of the following data) is: "A List of Persons to whom Premiums for sowing Flax-Seed in the Year 1796 have been adjudged by the Trustees of the Linen Manufacture. Pursuant to the Scheme offered by them for encouraging the Growth of Flax throughout the Kingdon, viz., 'To the Person who should sow between the 10th Day of March and the 1st Day of June 1796, with a sufficient Quantity of good found Flax-seed, any Quantity of Land, well prepared and fit for the purpose, not less than 1 Acre--4 Spinning Wheels,---3 Roods 3 Ditto, ---2 Roods--2Ditto,---1 Rood--1 Ditto. And to the Person who should sow in like Manner any Quantity of like Land, not less than 5 Acres, a Loom, or Wheels, Reels, or Hatchells to the Value of 50 Shillings, and for every % Acres over and above the first five a like Premium.'" The reference numbers you quote are not from the original Flaxgrowers/Spinning Wheel list -- they are most likely internal references to someone's database version of the list. The original Flaxgrowers list is broken down by county, and within each county by (civil) parish, and consists of a list of names and # of wheels. There is no way to tell from the Flaxgrower list in which townland they lived, or who else was in their family, etc. -- all it will tell you is county, parish, name, # wheels, and, if you care to calculate from the info in the title above, amount of land given over to flax growing in 1796. So, the data that someone sent you translates as: there are William Osbornes in Cos. Donegal and Londonderry, and a William Osburn in Raphoe parish, Co. Donegal. Since you said you were not sure that William was your GGgfather's father, I am appending (below) all the Osbornes in the UHF's database of the Flaxgrower's List. Note that -- assuming there's no mistake in the UHF's database -- there are only two Williams, not three as implied by the info someone sent you (their two references to Donegal are to the same person). Note that the William in Raphoe is the only Osborne/Osburn (of any Christian name) in Donegal. Since you have other evidence pointing to Donegal, you might want to concentrate on the parish of Raphoe first. (Of course, your Osborne could be elsewhere in Donegal and just not have qualified for a spinning wheel, so would not be on the list). "UHF" is the Ulster Historical Foundation -- http://www.ancestryireland.co.uk/ Here's the data: Surname, First name, Parish, # Looms Co. Tyrone Osborne, Alexander, Drumra [Drumragh], 1 Osborne, Andrew, Drumra [Drumragh], 1 Osborne, Henry, Ardstraw, 2 Osborne, John, Drumra [Drumragh], 1 Osborne, Robert, Drumra [Drumragh], 1 Osburne [Osborne], Henry, Dromore, 1 Osburne [Osborne], James, Dromore, 2 Osburne [Osborne], Samuel, Donaghedy, 4 Co. Londonderry Osborne, John, Glendermot, 2 Osborne, John, Tamlaght Finlagan, 1 Osborne, Rev. Joseph, Bovera [Bovevagh], 4 Osborne, Samuel, Bovera [Bovevagh], 4 Osborne, Samuel, Bovera [Bovevagh], 1 Osborne, William, Bovera [Bovevagh], 4 Co. Donegal Osburn [Osborne], William, Raphoe, 1 Co. Louth Osborne, Bridget, Louth, 1 Hope that helps. Claire K.