This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/VWC.2ACI/1087.1 Message Board Post: Hello Graham, You could check microfilm copies of the Irish civil registration records available on order through a LDS Family History Centre and review the births for 1897 and the years around it to verify his exact date of birth and location. You could also request a copy of his civil birth cert from the Irish General Register Office at http://www.groireland.ie You can review the 1901 and 1911 Irish census microfilms which are also available on order through LDS and research the family in Athy. Those census records aren't searchable as yet online or by surname. Athy Town is in three different civil parishes -- Churchtown, St. John's and St. Michael's so you'll need to go through each to hopefully find the family. It's the Athy Registration District. Here's an explanation of Irish civil divisions: http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=2435 Unfortunately the Irish census records for 1861 through 1891 were all destroyed by the British Government for various reasons and the census records before those were largely destroyed during fighting in Dublin in the Irish Civil War in 1922. Church registers are the primary source of research. The Athy RC Church registers have been microfilmed but are only available for research at the National LIbrary of Ireland in Dublin or through fee-based research from the Kildare Heritage and Genealogical Society Co. Ltd. in Newbridge. Regards. Eilís O'Hara