Hi ..., I'd have thought that not too much of a problem, since most of the basic 19c records you'll need to find your ancestor - e.g. BDM records and Griffiths Valuation etc - are filed under parishes, not towns. Also, the Irish parishes seem to me to be quite small and there's probably not more than one town in most of them, and sooner or later you'll probably come across a pysical address in one of the records which will give you a town name. Regards Pamela At 11:04 15.01.02 -0800, james and dawn dowling wrote: >o.k. so what if you know the county AND the parish of your ancestor in Ireland, but Don't know the name of the town they originated? >Any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks so much >mizzou@mcmsys.com An Aussie transplanted to Rotorua, NZ.