Thank you very much, Dennis, as well as to the other very helpful replies i received, several over e-mail. I am trying a new tack on the marriage license, as some other data i dug up seems to indicate that i may have searched in the wrong date range. I will also obtain as much corroborating evidence as i can that shows the birth certificate to be incorrect. As a thanks, here's the best pictures from my trip to ireland last year: http://dave.lac.uic.edu/best-ireland-pics.html Thanks to everyone again! dave