I'm Brad Miter - SW Ohio I have two famous Troy 2nd Generation Irish ancestors: My GrGrandfather 1st Lt. George Gould and his sister, Mary S. Gould. Their claims to fame were: Mary GOULD married Joseph Bradford CARR who rose to the rank of Major General during the 4 years of the Civil War. George GOULD, aside from his fame as my GrGrandfather, served as Aide de Camp to Maj Gen Carr, his brother-in-law, for the first two years of the Civil War. I know the names of the parents for both the Goulds and Gen. Carr and that they were from Ireland. But I have no idea of what part of Ireland any of them were from. The parents were: William CARR - (born about 1776) Ann (his wife) - (born about 1810 but more likely 1800) The Ages are really wacky - Census of 1830 indicates William >30 and <40; Ann >20 and <30. 1850 Census has William age 50 and Ann age 40. 1860 Census - William age 70 and Ann probably deceased. It appears Ann may have answered the door at the 1850 census and dropped 10 years off their age. In 1870 Census, William (living with son, Joseph) is listed as age 84 which equates to his 1776 birth year. I assume they couple were married in Ireland. Cannot find a naturalization record. William was a cigar maker in Troy. A blurb in a bio of Gen. Carr states, "BREVET MAJ.-GEN. JOSEPH BRADFORD CARR, U.S.V. was born in the city of Albany, N. Y., on the 16th of August, 1828. His parents were natives of the Emerald Isle, and came to this country in 1824." And, for the GOULD parents: Robert GOULD - Born 1805 in Ireland Mary (his wife) - Born 1808 in Ireland Birth Years extrapolated from 1850 census Robert was a grocer and took the family to Baie des Chaleurs, Quebec, Canada where both George and his sister, Mary were born. This period would have been roughly 1830-1840 as they missed both of those US Censuses. Other children were born in Troy starting in possibly 1839. I have reason to believe that they actually were in Troy prior to going to Quebec but can't find my reference. So, how does one track such common names back to the old country? Brad Miter