Greetings from Canada, I would very much appreciate some searching strategies for my BRINKMAN family who emigrated from County Sligo to Canada in 1842. Im at brick wall stage right now. :-( In the Householders Index for County Sligo, there was only one reference to the surname Brinkman in one parish in Sligo which equates to at least one family or more living in that parish. On the actual Tithe Applotment film, I found the BRINKMAN family in CARROWNLEAM TOWNLAND, Sligo County, Leyny Barony, Killoran Parish, Tobercurry Union, Ireland. My g-g-grandfather, William Brinkman, was born in Sligo c1790. Some of the BRINKMANs married into the STEWART/STUART and MULLIGAN families from the same area. By the time the Griffith Valuation tax was done in the 1850's, there was no mention of Brinkman in any parish in Sligo County. Since at least four lines of Brinkmans emigrated around 1842, there may have been no members of the family with the Brinkman surname left in Sligo County after that time (unless there were daughters who had married and stayed there) I also found a pocket of Brinkmans in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is possible, since the surname is so rare, that these people may be related in some way but I have no proof of this. I have hypothesized that the movement may have been from County Down to Sligo, then later, emigration to Canada. There were, however, 2 Brinkman families at the time of the Griffith in County Down. Could someone tell me whether the Brinkman surname was referenced in any other counties at when the Griffith Valuation was done? I checked the Matheson Report and Brinkman is not listed at all which only tells me, if the name existed over there around 1890, there were fewer than 5 births. The name does not appear to be Irish. I have wondered if the name was German/Prussian or Dutch in origin. Would anyone have any ideas of types of documents I could check in order to trace a line back to Germany, for instance. I have looked at some of the books with lists of Palatines but the name has not shown up. They always indicated they were Irish in all legal documents I have found in Canada. Since there do not seem to be many surviving records for the area of Sligo in which I am interested, would there be other levels of documents I could check for information about this family? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Louise (Henderson) Croyden Burlington, Ontario, Canada lcroyden@worldchat.com