One of my dead ends is a Michael Dunagan, also spelled Dunnigan, Donegan etc. He first shows up in the Hunter Census in 1830 with wife and 2 young daughters. He is listed as having been born in Ireland and she in New York. In 1840, he is still in Hunter with a larger family, and in 1850 the family is in Olive, Ulster County and of course now the names of most family names can be read. By combining all the census records, Michael was born about 1804, and since he married a lady from New York and they had two young children by 1830 it would be logical that he was in the country by 1826 ish. But did he come as a wee lad or a young adult? No clue and no evidence he had parents or siblings in the area. In fact there only seems to be one other Dunagan family in the Catskills that long ago, and they are listed in several of the area histories so they are well documented. By the 1955 census Michael had died. I learned his wife was Eleanor Underhill. I have found no vital records for the family - no church records, birth or confirmation records, no clear idea if the family was catholic or protestant, no wills, no ships records, no burial records in Greene or Ulster. There is one record in the Green County web site stating that a Mr. Kerr kived in "the Michael Dunagan house in Hunter" (if memory serves me correctly that record was in about 1856.) A Kerr married Eleanor Underhill Dunagan's sister, so perhaps this was a brother-in-law of Michael. The Kerr's were also from Ireland arriving early in the 1800's. By the 1850's there are many more Dunagan's of various spellings in the Catskills, probably coming as part of the potatoe famine, but my line was here earlier and no clue if any of the later folks had any relationship - seems remote. I tried some Irish sites but the spelling can vary so much and the name does exist throughout the country so not much chance of hitting pay dirt unless I find a town in Ireland to look. I do have quite a bit of data on his descendants, many of whom stayed in the area or went to nearby Bradford, Pa. Has anyone come across this family, or have any ideas for remaining research? I'd be glad to share my stuff if anyone has a Dunagan linking into their family.