Padraig, I have the same problem for some of my family. This site works best for those who had family emigrate as a unit. It is easy to identify entire families. Or sometimes two people from a family came. If they came singly, and had a popular Irish name, it is difficult to know which one is yours, even if you know your relative's age. If your family member had an unusual name, you could be in luck. Because my family gave different years of birth on any record that was ever filled out, it is almost impossible to tell which John Kenny is mine. It does seem that age 21 was a popular age to be when boarding one of these ships. Also, when my different family members were enumerated in the various U.S. Censuses, they gave different years of immigration each time so I can't even be sure which year to look for on ship's records. For me, the advantage of having this page on line is that I don't have to run to the nearest regional National Archives to look at records on microfilm. I can sit at my computer and look. All of my family came in before Ellis Island opened, and for years, those records were not indexed. Eventually another clue might help me to zero in on which John Kenny was mine. :-) I was searching Boston records at one time, looking for my great-aunt, Nora Mahony. Family information had her coming to the US to stay with relatives. I was fairly sure it would have been her mother's family, the Kingstons. I did find a record (one of the several years she had given on census records as her year of immigration) of a Nora Mahony, listed very close to a Sam Kingston. Another name in the same grouping was Daniel Shea. Since Nora married a Daniel Shea, I am wondering if she met him on the ship coming over. Although I cannot be sure this is my Nora, the other tidbits lead me to think this is the right one. I am now trying to follow Sam Kingston in US records and will then try to trace his family in Ireland (only because I am wondering which of the many, many Kingston families Nora's mother was connected to). Jan ----- Original Message ----- From: <IRL-CORK-D-request@rootsweb.com> To: <IRL-CORK-D@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, August 12, 2005 4:00 AM Subject: IRL-CORK-D Digest V05 #172