In a message dated 8/3/01 4:10:18 AM, camelbeek@yahoo.com wrote: << My g-g-grandfather was John Higgins. . .He immigrated to New York City with his parents. His parents died. . .and he went to an orphanage. He was "turned out" at the age of 15. He. . . had my g-grandfather in 1895. . . .he was probably in a Catholic orphanage. Any suggestions will be appreciated. >> It's definitely a long shot, but you might want to look at the US census for 1880 and the NY State census for King's County (Brooklyn, 6th ward) for St Paul's Orphanage. St Pauls was a large Catholic orphanage. I think it was on Congress St. (4th enumeration district in the NY State census). Brooklyn had a large Irish population at this time, but it had not yet been annexed by NYC so St Pauls would not necessarily appear on a list of NYC orphanages. You can order the NYState census from LDS. It has much more local info than the US census including a list of marriages and deaths that took place during the year preceding and notes on the economy of the district. Have you tried looking at New York and Brooklyn city directories for your g-g-g- grandparents? Directories are often a good place to locate urban ancestors. LDS also has Indexes and VRs for Brooklyn and perhaps Manhattan on film. You might find a record of the deaths of your g-g-g grandparents there. Good luck, Sheila, Wellesley, MA researching: Holmes and O'Shea, Cork City>Brooklyn>Utica>Chicago