Patti, Using http://www.google.com I put in "william gray" ireland ellen . The quotes mean that the william gray must occur exactly in that order. Otherwise you get too many hits of something like William Smith and Rebecca Gray (where the words appear but in the wrong people). In Mt. Albion Cemetery, Town of Albion, Orleans County, New York I found a William Gray and Ellen Gray married to each other and both born in Ireland. Also buried there were son George b. 1828, son William b. 1832, son John b. 1838, and dau. Ella b 1842. You have James b. 1842 and Thomas b. 1848. This William and Ellen were in the US by 1835 when 2-3 year old son William was buried in this cemetery. Father William was buried in the cemetery in 1867 and Ellen was buried in 1871. This suggests that they lived in the area for the entire time, but they could have moved to Troy for a few years and then returned to the Albion area. Or sons James and Thomas lived in Troy at some point in their adult lives (plenty of work there) but may not have been born there. I suggest to you the possibility that William and Ellen came to the US with a younger brother Everett and his wife Elizabeth. I suggest also that William's mother (possibly Sarah Everett) came with them and that William's father (possibly Jonas Gray) may have died back in Ireland because he is mentioned in these records but is not buried in the cemetery (or at least a stone wasn't found). There are 29 Grays buried here. The lot numbers are given so you can figure out family groups although "mother" Sarah seems to have gotten buried in whatever space was available. I suggest that you look up the 1850 or 1855 Town of Albion census to confirm the presence of William and Ellen, and then see if James and Thomas are present as well. 1855 will give you better information (including ages, as I recall), and the two boys would still be part of the family. The google search that I did came up with 387 hits. You might investigate the others as well. You could also try without the ireland although this will give you more hits than you could wish for. http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyorlean/mtalbg3.htm The William and Ellen above may not be the right people, but it sounds very promising to me. Let me know what you think. Cliff Albany & Eastern New York Genealogy http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~clifflamere/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Patti Smith wrote: > Hello all, > > I really need some advice. I feel like I am close to giving up on my > search. I really want to continue but I am at a loss as to where to find my > ancestors. There are 2 people that are so hard to locate! I will state a > few basic facts and if anyone can help with suggestions I would really > appreciate it. > > I am trying to find William Gray and wife Ellen. Family history says they > immigrated to NY from Ireland. I don't know either of their ages or > birthdates, or anything other than their names and their children's info. > > They had 2 sons, James (b. 1842) and Thomas (b. 1848) in Troy, NY. I have > both of their civil war records and learned nothing about the parents. > (other than their names from 1 son's marriage and death cert. (maiden name > unknown) > I can not locate any of the above in the 1840 or 1850 census for Troy or > surrounding areas. > > I have contacted several catholic churches in Troy and no one can find > record of them. One church, St. Joseph's still has not written back after 2 > letters and 1 phone call (going on 6 to 8 months now). Marriage and death > certs give no information. > > 1 son died in a soldiers home in 1913 and the attending physician who filled > out the death cert and he didn't fill out much information and what little > he did was incorrect, such as birth place and age. (Could there possibly be > another death cert, maybe one the county did?) He didn't die in the county > he lived in all of his adult life. (in Illinois) > > 1 son states in the census' that his parents were born in Ireland. The > other son always stated his parents were born in NY. > > If I were to contact the catholic church in Illinois where he had his > children baptised at and also where his funeral was, what records would I > ask for that might contain information about HIS parents? > > Can anyone give me some ideas as what I can do to find William and Ellen? > > Thanks in advance. > > Patti > > > > ==== NYRENSSE Mailing List ==== > Some Rensselaer Births, Marriages & Deaths: http://www.angelfire.com/fl/Sumter/Troy.html > Rensselaer County Genweb page: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyrensse/ > GenConnect Board: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Rensselaer > 1880 Fed Census: http://www.connorsgenealogy.com > To unsubscribe http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/usa/NY/rensselaer.html