"seaghda" <vamshay@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message news:1136227313.287949.308940@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com... > My grandfather Michael White (1861-1939) of Ballyagran, County > Limerick, Chicago and > San Francisco left Ireland in 1884 for Chicago just prior to his last > year in the seminary. > The family cannot find a record at Maynooth so I am thinking he was > studying with the > Christian Brothers in nearby Charleville. He was knowledgable in Latin > and Greek so > I am thinking he left a major seminary the year before ordination. > Would 24 be the > normal age of ordination during the 19th century? Seaghda: Is your surname Shea or O'Shea? I attended the Christian Brothers' School in Charleville 70+ years ago, and Ballyagran was only "down the road" from there. I suggest you write to The Christian Brothers in Charleville, Co. Cork, Republic of Ireland. There may be no actuasl brothers there anymore, but someone will get your letter and be able to locate your grandfather in the records there. Also, the parish of Ballyagran's Parish Priest may be able to help you locate a baptismal certificate. These can be seen at the National Library of Ireland in Dublin, and local Mormon Churches world widehave copies, or can get them for you. The civil birth records can also be consulted in Dublin and in other locasl places there. You must not assume that he went to Maynooth. There were several other seminaries in Ireland then, and Maynooth was only the biggest. Someone else here may be able to name several others. There was one in Waterford, I remember. If you need a list of others I will ask my contacts in Ireland fro names. (I am in the USA and was a seminarian myself at one stage of my life.) Gerry