I sent this response to another list this morning and some on this list might get some info from it. > > I have traced my Nolans back to 1839 in Stepney, I now need to find > them in Ireland [probably Galway] but I have no idea where to start. Given the time period, it might be impossible but here are some suggestions. First, get all the records you can for the family in the UK, marriage and death are important because they may give place of birth. One of the England censuses asks for county but without looking it up, I don't remember if it was 1861 or 1851, so you might want to check and see if the enumerator got the county listed. If you can't find anything in England, you can look at where the name was located in the 1850s. Here is a site that show that information: http://www.ireland.com/ancestor/surname/ Put Nolan in the search box and you will find what counties and how many were in the counties when the Griffith's Valuation was conducted 1848-1864. This will give you an idea of what county you need to pursue. You will see that the most Nolans were found in County Carlow, but there we some in most counties and many in County Galway and County Kildare and County Tipperary. Since most of the censuses did not survive before the 1901 census, you will need to rely on church records and they are not centralized. Each county has a heritage centre and for a fee you can get them to do a lookup for you. You can find many of the centres on this site: http://www.irish-roots.net/counties.asp One site that has access to the centres is starting to put together an Ireland wide database of the church records. They have a number of counties completed and you can do a search online and if a record looks like yours, you can order it for a fee online. That site is located at: http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/frame_1024.cfm At the top of the page, click on 'Search 3.6m Records Free' If you can narrow down the county, this site will tell you what RC church records are available by parish: http://www.ireland.com/ancestor/browse/counties/rcmaps/ Most records are available for view at the National Libray of Ireland. Some have been filmed by the Family History Center and this site will give the film number for both. -- Pat Connors, Sacramento CA http://www.connorsgenealogy.com