Hi Sharon Thank you so much for your help. It is greatly appreciated. My family name is Chadwick and I have found a William Chadwick in Ballyfin Upper in Griffiths Valuation. He is the only Chadwick in the area and very likely the son of a William Chadwick who was already in Yorkshire by then. William the son, eventually appears in the 1871 census in Yorkshire. Also thank you for your hints on the parish registers. I will certainly widen my search. Regards, Jan Vernon Sydney, Australia -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Sharon Haggerty Sent: Sunday, 17 May 2009 12:09 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LAOIS] Book suggestions - Ballyfin Jan, I would suggest you simply google "Ballyfin Ireland Laois" to find information about Ballyfin. Here are a couple of sites I have found--there are scads more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballyfin http://www.slievebloom.ie/history/ballyfin_history.html http://www.irishmidlandsancestry.com/content/laois/community/ballyfin_house. htm And I would like to correct an impression I seem to have left earlier--the C of I Ballyfin register starts in 1822, not 1800. BUT, folks who attended Ballyfin church and lived in the area can often be found in the registers for Maryborough and Mountrath (Clonenagh and Clonagheen parish). At various times the Ballyfin Church has been part of one or the other of these parishes. The Maryborough register has baptisms back to 1793 (and the lovely man who entered those earliest records actually provided the mother's maiden name, providing me with the birth name of my ggg grandmother); the Mountrath register goes back to 1749. These registers are held at the RCBL, the Church of Ireland Archives and Library, in Dublin, and are available to the public. You could probably hire a researcher who would look for records for you. See: http://www.progenealogists.com/ireland/churchireland.asp You say your family moved to England in the 1860s. If so they probably are listed in the Griffiths Valuation, which was taken in 1850 in the Ballyfin/Maryborough area. You can search those records by name or place. The search page for family names is: http://griffiths.askaboutireland.ie/gv4/gv_family_search_form.php Sharon Haggerty