Thank you all so much for your wonderful advice. I really need it....time is getting short. Mary, My best info about my Griffin family is from John's US Citizenship papers where he stated that he is from the City of Cork. His parents are Cornelius Griffin and Ellen Sheehan. His wife (married in MA) is Catherine Coughlin whose brother stated on his citizenship papers that he is from Cork. They all arrived here in the 1840s... No Grady's yet, I'm afraid. Any of my names familiar to you??? Back to Tipperary/Waterford....We do have a weekend planned in Dublin at the end of our trip ..... I'll check to see if any of the research sites there are available on Saturday. Thank you for that suggestion. Vicki....have a wonderful trip and please let me know what you learned about traveling in Ireland. Are you driving???? I'll check the library again in Waterford. Part of my frustration is that folks in Waterford (at the library) say to go to Tipperary and Tipperary folks say to go to Waterford for the records.....I've had trouble finding the right library to work from and worry that time for both (especially if I start at the wrong one) will be limited. Had not even thought of the Hospital...are records available to the public there???? How do I approach that source??? I spoke to someone at St. Peter and Pauls this morning and hope to get some help from them....I'm going to try St. Marys (Catholic) as well.... Anyone have experience with these churches. The lady I spoke to was very nice.... Thank you all again....I'm keeping my fingers crossed and I will enjoy just being there and soaking up the sites. Can't wait to hear REAL Irish music in a REAL Irish pub..... Donna