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/WWC.2ACI/3734.2 Message Board Post: Hello Jo, Remember me? I provided you with United States census information on your family. As the earlier respondent mentioned, finding your family roots without knowing their specific whereabouts in Kilkenny can be very, very difficult, especially with such common names as Kavanaugh and Brennan. Guesswork and luck are all that is left to try to find your roots from the only source document for your timeframe: Griffiths Evaluation of 1849-50. Let's make some assumptions: 1.) That Jeffrey's parents were already probably married by 1850, and that they met and married because they probably came from the same civil parish or townland. 2.) That Jeffrey's first name, though somewhat unusal in Ireland, probably has a family connection as was common during those times. From the first assumption we are left with this arrangement of matching Kavanaugh and Brennan families living in the same townland: Civil Parish Townland Kilmacar Sleveen Kilmacar Kilmacar Kilmacar Byrnesgrove Grangemaccomb Connahy Grangemaccomb Ardaloo From the second assumption there are no Jeffrey Kavanaughs but there are Jeffrey Brennans--that is, Geoffrey Brennan, the British and Irish way of spelling Jeffrey. Here is a list of those Geoffrey Brennans: First Name Parish Townland Geoffrey Kilmacar Ballyhimmin Geoffrey Castlecomer Cloneen Geoffrey Dysart Coan West Geoffrey Dysart Dysart Glebe Geoffrey Mothell Newtown Geoffrey Mothell Newtown Could it be then that Jeffrey was named after his maternal grandfather? There is a very good chance that this is the case. Parish Kilmacar would be a good place to start your search. Get a good Irish map and try to identify those places near here that match with the list provided and then identify the local RC church where your familial records may have been kept. If you need assistance with this, let me know. Have you been to Ireland yet? By the way, my source for this information comes from http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/griffiths/a-b.htm. There are many Patrick Kavanaughs listed. One of them may likely be your ancestor.