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/5426.1 Message Board Post: You need to find Patrick McSharry Foley's specific birthplace and parents names from US records. Since he was born before civil registration started in Ireland in 1864 there won't be a civil birth record for him in Ireland. You need his specific birthplace to find a possible to find a possible baptism in local church records for his place of birth. That would be the town/townland, civil parish and county. There are no surviving census records in Ireland for the 1800s to find any family information. You can look at the US census records for 1900, 1910, 1920 to get family information online through your nearest LDS church. The 1900 US census will also give you immigration information as well as specific birth detail. New York State also did its own census which are available on microfilm. They were done 5 years after each Federal census. They're available on microfilm on order through LDS. Ellis Island didn't open until 1892 when Annie Moore, an Irish immigrant from County Cork, was the first person to pass through it. Before that immigrants went through Castle Garden. See: http://www.castlegarden.org/ If you're referring to New York State not giving you records, you can check about getting copies for genealogical purposes from them. You can also check with the City of Jamestown about death and other records. Here's the contact information for Jamestown: http://www.co.chautauqua.ny.us/municipal/cityofjamestown.htm