Pat- That woman obviously gave you a ridiculous answer. Of course the mid-1800s are genealogically important in NJ. So many people came through NJ at that time! You will however encounter a certain amount of genealogical snobbery -- in general, the farther back you go, the harder it is to find anything, so more recent genealogy is considered "simple" and/or "unsophisticated" by some. Genealogical societies in the older states do tend to focus on the colonial period. I think this is less due to snobbery and largely because public and other records become more plentiful, informative and easier to find and use towards the mid-1800s, and especially into the late 1800s. So a lot of genealogical societies do not collect materials from those years, based on the thinking that scarce resources are better devoted to harder to find, obscure records from a time when individuals rarely had even their names recorded. (E.g., his presence on a seemingly trivial list of cattle earmarks may be the only indication that your ancestor lived in a certain place.) There are plenty of records pertaining to the wave of immigrants you mention. The best are US census records (National Archives / LDS and many other repositories), state census records (NJ State Archives / LDS I think), state vital records (NJ State Archives), church records (try church or LDS), naturalization records (harder to locate) and passenger lists (National Archives / LDS). Also cemetery records and local newspaper obituaries. Good luck with your research! Gary On Thu, 24 Feb 2000 11:50:29 -0800 (PST) [email protected] writes: When the Potato Famine Irish Came to NJ in or around the area of 1840-50 is it true that the NJ Genealogy Societies do not consider this important enough to document as Genealogy? Is it true that there are very few records on these people? If it is not true where can I get records on these people and what type are available. A women who said she is a Certified Genealogist ( In NJ) told me that 1850 is not really Genealogy material and this is not considered an important part of NJ Genealogy. What a slap in the Face that was. I always consider everything in the past Genealogy and History of that Location. I hate to think anyone doing Genealogy would consider any Ethnic Group unimportant. 1850 is now One Hundred and Fifty Years ago. Would like to get some Replies on this. Pat McMahon Regan