I'm interested in the marriage brokers mentioned in the following email. I was unaware there were marriage brokers in Ireland. Anyone have any further information on them? Also, I was told that a man might court a woman who was within walking distance on a weekend day or a holiday. So if you knew where one of your ancestors came from, then draw a circle perhaps five miles around that place or maybe more if he was young and healthy (or really smitten) and then search within that circle for the sweetheart. Kay those were my thoughts also ( people marrying within a close region ) and when I said 400 people in a parish, I meant just that and not merely the townland, although when you do find the same name families in different townlands, they often turn out to be very close by - a couple of miles at most. But then I was thinking of the marriage broker or arranger used so much in Ireland in the 19th century, they may have introduced couples from different areas altogether