Anita, One source to find your James Swan is the "Spinning Wheel List" a/k/a the "Flax List of 1796". I checked the listing that I have for Ematris Parish, where the townland you mentioned is located and found: James Swan - 1 spinning wheel That means that James Swan was the head of household on a farm and that he had devoted one rood of good farm land to the growing of flax for the production of linen. His reward for doing this was '1 spinning wheel'. Assuming that your James Swan was Church of Ireland, you can search those records which begin in Ematris Parish in 1753. Patricia ----- Original Message ----- From: <Anitaaust@aol.com> To: <IRL-MONAGHAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 2:40 AM Subject: [MONAGHAN] (no subject) Is there anyone who could give me a helpful steer in the right direction on Monaghan research? My ancestor James Swann was born in 1760 in a place the family recalls as sounding like 'marnaharny'. The closest to that I've been able to come is Magheranaharney Townland in Monaghan. That there were Swanns there is pretty certain: that townland is quite near Swan's Crossroads. There are Swann land transactions there in the latter 1700's. There are few resources, it seems, to search. Is there something I might have overlooked that I can do from the U.S.? All suggestions gratefully considered! Anita Swann ==== IRL-MONAGHAN Mailing List ==== © MM