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/YWC.2ACI/5298.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.2.1.4 Message Board Post: Hello Jack, With so many family members who emigrated to the US, I would advise doing additional research in their US civil and church records to find where the children were actually born in Ireland. MIchael Reynolds and Catherine McGinnis' marriage would have generally taken place in the bride's church, just as it does today. That wouldn't necessarily be the same location where the family lived or the children were born or of Michael Reynolds origination. With 8 children all born in Ireland, your best strategy would be to further research their civil and church records in the US as well as their children's. Their birth location(s) may be linked to their father's birth location. In other words, the couple may have settled where the father originated to live and raise their family. Once you've gathered all the information from US census records for Michael and Catherine, their children and their grandchildren, then civil and church records would be your next step for research. a) For Michael and Catherine look at: Their civil and church death records, tombstones, cemetery records, wills and Michael's US naturalisation records, especially the first papers which may have more detail than the final citizenship papers. Emigrants often remembered the family at home in their wills. I've even seen wills of emigrants in the US which included not only their relatives names in Ireland and locations where they lived but also all other family members who went to the US and their locations. b) There are eight children born in Ireland. Look at their civil and church marriage and death records, tombstones, cemetery records and wills. Did their local church require verification of their baptism information from the Irish church? Was a record kept? Was it noted in the parish register? Who were the sponsors -- were they other relations from the home area in Ireland? How did they become US citizens? Were they included on their father's naturalisation papers? If not, then that's another research source for each of them -- again the first papers which may include a specific birth location. c) The children's children, i.e. Michael and Catherine's grandchildren: You should also look at the civil and church records of the children of any of the eight children born in Ireland. Their civil and church birth, baptism, marriage and death records may include where their parents were born in Ireland. Griffiths Valuation can be very deceptive. Griffiths wasn't a census -- it was a property tax. It had a property valuation below which property wasn't listed. Not everyone is included in Griffiths. The occupiers listed in Griffiths don't include any family detail. Occupiers too sometimes sub-rented their holdings and those people aren't listed. People often occupied land in various areas just for farming and didn't necessarily live there. The immediate lessors could have lived anywhere also. Griffiths was done in the counties in Ireland in different years between 1848 and 1864 for different counties so it doesn't even have a time consistency. Someone could be an occupier in one location in one county in a certain year and be listed again as an occupier in a different location in a different county in a later Griffiths and so would show up in both locations. Without any ages or family connections in the Property Valuation it's difficult to establish identity. So! Griffiths can lead you to search for people in Ireland who in effect have no connection to your family. It's primarily useful is you already know where your ancestors originated and when they lived there and want to find the specific location of the land they farmed or leased since it includes the Name of the Civil Parish, No. and Letters of Reference to Map, Townlands and Occupier, Immediate Lessor, Description of Tenement [ House and Land ;Land; House and Garden, etc], Acres, Net Annual Value [Valuation]: Land, Buildings, + Total. See the thread on this board about the Globe Hotel so you're aware of some of the pitfalls of Griffiths: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/message/an/localities.britisles.ireland.let.general/5338 So you may also want to verify that the marriage you have for Michael and Catherine is actually yours by verifying that was Catherine's parish or home area of birth through her civil and church records in the US. I assume her parents names from her US records are the same? You need to establish links -- dates, parents names, locations -- to events/locations here from the US side. Best wishes in your research. Regards. Eilís O'Hara Ireland