I am looking for the most likely locations to find Greenan's. I have visited Greenan village in Co Wicklow and there are some greenans in the phone book but I had a clue before that Mayo is a Greenan county. Any ideas ? All the best Neil

Hi Neil - What time frame are you researching? You need to do major research in the KNOWN places your kin lived. Did they emigrate? Some document or a death notice or family story should help point you in the right direction. The microfilmed United States Federal Censuses give quite a bit of detail on each individual such as year of immigration and/or number of years in the USA, etc. The 1920 or 1930 censuses often gave more specifics on place of birth, rather than "Ireland." Even if the couple was deceased, their children might have told the enumerator where each parents was born. Check out the surname search at www.ireland.com/ancestor/ During Ireland's Primary Valuation (1848-64) - No. of GREENAN households: Co. Monaghan 57 Co. Leitrim 17 Co. Down 11 Co. Cavan 8 Co. Meath 2 Belfast city, Co. Antrim (2) Co. Westmeath (1) Co. Kilkenny (1) Note - Most GREENAN babies born in Ireland in 1890 were born in Co. Cavan. GREENAN (grianach/"sunny") Check out the more common spelling of GRENNAN, found in many Irish counties, primarily in Co. Offaly (King's Co.), during the Primary Valuation. It is possible that the spelling of the surname could have been changed at some point in the emigration process, but you might want to assume GREENAN is correct at this point. If a couple was married in Ireland, and the bride's maiden ("nee") surname is known, that MIGHT help to pin down where in Ireland their families were living. If that is the case, then you can do a "second surname" search at that website, see in which counties both surnames were found in the same parish. Most often couples married someone they knew in their own village, church or civil parish. Perhaps a living member can help pinpoint a province, county, townland or village. Were they known to have been Catholic? Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: "Neil Watson" <nwblairxx@yahoo.co.uk> To: <irelandgenweb@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 5:47 PM Subject: [Irish Genealogy] Greenan >I am looking for the most likely locations to find Greenan's. I have >visited Greenan village in Co Wicklow and there are some greenans in the >phone book but I had a clue before that Mayo is a Greenan county. Any ideas >? > > > > All the best > Neil