Hi everyone, I wonder if anyone can help? I have been trying to determine whether our family originated in Ireland and now more specifically the possibility of Cork. I did a surname search on www.goireland.com for the COGAN name and it said that they mainly resided in Cork - obviously our branch could have moved but as I've had a brick wall with this for a couple of years I thought I'd give it a go. The info I have are as follows: John COGAN was born somewhere between 1859 and 1863, he died in January 1937. He was a Coal Miner and lived from at least July 1881 (when he married Martha PRINCE) until he died in Kippax, Yorkshire, England. His fathers details from the marriage certificate state his name as James COGAN and occupation as a Miner. Before 1881 we cannot find any trace of John unless we assume the 1881 census entry for John CROGON who was living with Marthas mother on the 1881 census in Kippax was another miss-spelled name and is our John COGAN which means we know he was in Kippax at the time of the 1881 census. The only other thing we know for John is the place of birth information on 1891 and 1901 census' which state North Newcastle and Lancashire respectively and the name was written as COGGAN (a common problem having this name). The 1881 census also had Lancashire but also mentioned Wigan as the place of birth. The age given on 1881, 1891 and 1901 census' all tally being 22, 32 & 42 respectively. This leads me to his age which would mean that in 1871 he should be 12 and 1861 aged 2. This places his date of birth as c.1859 but his death certificate stated he was 74 when he died which puts his date of birth c.1863. He marriage certificate states he was 21 at the time of the marriage which puts his birth c.1860. This obviously doesn't confirm whether John or James were from Ireland but having searched the English 1871 and 1861 census I have not found any COGAN family where the there was a son John with a father James even allowing for miss-spelling in the surname. Also information from living relatives does not confirm anything - one member thought he was born in Lancashire another thought Newcastle, Northumberland, England. So I thought why not look in Ireland - it seems to be an Irish name from the info found on the internet. Also it could be possible they came from "a" Newcastle in Ireland and settled in Wigan before John came to Yorkshire. If anyone is researching the COGAN family or can help it would be very much appreciated. I also apologise if you get this message twice as I've posted it both on the Cork and the Ireland lists. Regards Karen Cogan Yorkshire, England Other Irish names being researched are: ROCH (probably Cork - still trying to track this one down), McCaffrey(McCaffery) - Armagh