This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: PatWicklow Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.britisles.ireland.may.general/7807.4.1.1.2.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hi Meghan, The web link I gave you is to the Catholic parish maps in Mayo. If you click on each of the parishes I mentioned you'll see the LDS film number for them. You can order the microfilms through your nearest LDS Family History Centre -- well worth a look! Have you seen the Ireland Townland Database showing all the towns and townlands in Mayo? It's at http://www.seanruad.com and pick Mayo to search from the drop down menu. Darby did go in through Burlington. That confirms what I had assumed about them. They had settled originally in that area of Vermont and western New York State and were mostly farm labourers. Because of the expansion of the railroads in the US then in that area farm production increased and the farmers needed more labourers. Canadian border crossing records didn't start until the 1890s, before that it was an open border. None of them I found could read or write but the first generation all learned to read and write English. Did you find Darby in the 1850 US Federal Census in Vermont? The surnames are really murdered in that census because the census enumerators couldn't understand the Irish accents or what the surnames were. Some of them are really mystifying! I was over there most recently for the summer of 2005 and I went to all the towns along the Champlain Canal and Hudson River to see if there were any local records for the small sailing vessels that went into those places but there weren't any records I could find then. There were apparently small boats that had frequent sailings to Canada to take the runaway slaves from the South to Canada along the Underground Railroad up through Northern New York State and Vermont. And picked up Irish immigrants on the way back down to the US. You could post on the Burlington Message board to see if any records have been found for the Irish immigrants arriving there. New information and records seem to be found often now since so many people are researching their ancestry. Ships passenger records to Canada aren't complete and whatever survives is in the Canadian Archives on microfilm. I didn't go to Canada to research those but have kept my eye on what the Canadian Government has been putting online but no luck yet. There had been an old map from the mid Nineteenth Century that had been put online by the University of Texas Library in Austin showing the immigration route for Irish immigrants from Canada down into New York State and Vermont. It was online in 2005 but I think it's no longer online. Pat Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.