In a message dated 8/12/2005 7:05:43 AM Central Daylight Time, janfortado@comcast.net writes: > 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. Thanks, Jan, This has been my experience exactly with my KELLY family, which I eventually traced to the Beara Peninsula in County Cork. I eventually realized that these ancestors, most of who were illiterate when they came, had a more "relaxed" attitude about time and its passage. They perhaps didn't so much care exactly when they were born, or even forgot with the passage of time. "The Man who made time, made plenty of it." Kevin Kelly in Missouri