This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Vh.2ADE/861.2 Message Board Post: Have you looked at the Illinois State Archives to look for McGrath names? If not, go to Illinois State Archives, click on the Databases. Scroll through a variety of search possibilities. I limited the name McGrath to just Shelby County. Here are examples of some items I found: Andrew McGrath married Jane Price, 15 Jan. 1873. (In the 1880 census Jane McGrath, age 61, was living with a daughter and son-in-law. Also in the household was Jane's son, Albert Price.) In the Death Records prior to 1916 (which are incomplete) I found that Andrew McGrath died 6 April 1880, in Shelbyville. He was 71 years old. Also in marriages I saw entries for Aquilla, Benjamin F., Joseph, Sarah E. (who married Peter Hager). There are probably others. By going to www.familysearch.org in their 1880 U. S. census search you can enter the surname McGrath in the individual part. List Illinois and Shelby County then search. You will find some McGrath names who were living in other households, as well as those who had their own families. By comparing those names with entries in the Illinois Archives databases you might be able to find more information. For Illinois deaths 1916-1950 I found only 2 McGrath names in Shelby County: a John McGrath and a Margaret McGrath. Death dates were given, but no ages. Since there were only 2 names it would seem to indicate that some of the families must have moved to other areas by around 1916.