Dear Group, Bill Bridges and I have been corresponding over the past year or two about his local MOSS family and most recently he asked me about the availability of immigration records of his Irish ancestors who arrived here during the period of the Potato Famine--1845-1850. One of the reasons he asked me the question is that he has plans to come up here for research this coming year. This evening I replied to him and I thought I'd share with you what I sent to him in the event that it might help you in your own family search. What I wrote to him in a lighthearted fashion follows: Oh, for pity sakes, do I have to do ALL of your research for you?? :-) :-) Hey, no problem. I pretty much had the answer to your question in my head but I checked with the Niagara County Clerk's Office in Lockport this afternoon and Bonnie confirmed what I already knew. In addition, she told me about some of the finer points. During our discussion we also talked about the disarray in the "dungeon" in the basement at the court house where so many of the old records are stored and we compared notes on genealogical queries and how we handle them. By the time we hung up we had become close friends and almost set a date to "do lunch!" Now down to the nitty gritty of your Irish immigrants in ca 1845-1850. When you get here make a bee line to the County Clerk's office where the Naturalization records are kept. Their records go back to around 1836. Now if your ancestors went through the Naturalization process shortly after they arrived in Niagara Co., the information on them is sparce. All that you will find--if you can find them listed--is their names and date of naturalization. In some rare cases the county has copies of their Declaration of Intent (to become citizens) and there may be valuable information in them regarding their background. But from both Bonnie's and my experience, we know that it may have taken YEARS for the immigrants to eventually apply for naturalization. Therefore, even if they arrived in the 1840s, they may have remained aliens until around the 1880s for instance. And the records of those later years show much much more information on the individuals. Before I forget, many of the immigrants here came through the "port" of Niagara Falls, Ontario! Therefore, check ship lists into the port of Montreal(?) The bottom line is this. The Naturalization records are now in the process of being hauled out of the "dungeon" in the court house basement and are being put into better order at another site in Lockport. Therefore, when you get here, they won't be instantly available to you when you arrive at the Clerk's office. What Bonnie strongly suggests is that you write to the Clerk's office and let them know an approximate date that you will be at their office. Let them know the names of the immigrants that you're interested in, the country they came from and the approximate date of their arrival. With that information at hand, the Clerk's office will have the records searched and have copies of them sent over to their office by the time you arrive. Otherwise it will take several days. Write your letter request to Niagara County Clerk's Office, P.O. Box 461, Lockport, NY 14095. Note: their street address is 175 Hawley St. Oh, yes, another thing. If you want to coordinate your visit up here with the black cherry season, plan on mid June and take along a bag of them with you to the Ransomville Speedway for the stock car races there!!! Ahhh, memories, eh? (Note the Canadian influence around here regarding that last "question!") vee