One last comment about ships lists. The Ellis Island searchable free databases are available at the Ellis Island website. They go bact to 1892. I did some searching there with some ancestral names although most of my direct ancestors were already in the US by 1870 -- before there was an Ellis Island. I got a couple of hits on the name or a soundalike name (optional list comes up when there is no direct hit). One of them was an 18 year old girl from the town where my ancestor's parish church was located. If you are searching for a birthplace, it might be a very good idea to look at the places of birth of people with your surnames who arrived at Ellis Island and to make an not of their birthplaces. The hits could point out a parish to search or maybe a district in which to look for military records. Don't forget there are also databases for Castle Garden (immigrants to NY prior to Ellis Island). Just search the net with: Castle Garden database. Karen