Hi Lois I think your family may have been descendants of some of the large number of Irish soldiers who went to live in France after the defeat of the Catholic Irish forces by the Protestant Irish and Huguenot forces in the 1690's in the Siege of Limerick and other places. Some of these families returned to live in Ireland in the 1700's. They are called The Wild Geese of Irish history and there are books about them. An odd thing is however that I thought a large number of O'Briens of County Clare if not all of them became Protestants in the time of Queen Elizabeth and have remained so up to this day. You should be able to read something about them too. Some of my ancestors were Huguenots of Co. Clare so I have read quite a bit on that subject and I don't think yours fit that description as most did not speak fluent French by the 1800's. Barbara Holt in NZ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lois Friss" <lfriss@usc.edu> To: <HUGUENOTS-WALLOONS-EUROPE-D@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2006 6:24 AM Subject: French in Ireland