Hi Walt, Any record can contain errors. Rather than trying to guess why the error was made, to move forward in your research, find additional documentation. In genealogy classes I was taught that it's risky to ever rely on a single source for data as that single source could be wrong. For example my grandma's birth certificate has a different name from the one she used all her life. Didn't find that out till she died. Donno if she knew she wasn't her!! You need to establish that this is or is not your ancestor's entry papers by using additional records such as US censuses, naturalization papers, etc. The same goes for prior nationality. Any single source can be wrong and is wrong for a certain percentage. You build the case by collecting the data, analyzing it, and arriving at a conclusion. In a court of law we can only be tried once for a crime, but in genealogy, we can revise our conclusion at any time due to the arrival of more evidence. You provide lots of info but no sources, so it's not really possible to guage how accurate your info is or to suggest what other records you should search -- as we don't know what sources you already searched. Ie maybe your births are from an old bible or you have have English censuses and/or civil registration for George b 1887. > Or was there a more specific reason >one would give Scotch not Irish ? Hmm... I do tarot readings for $50!!! However my tarot cards are in a moving van so that's not an option. If I had my deck I'd ask when my furniture is arriving!! (Maybe tomorrow!!!). I can provide a joke. I was plowing through ship lists from Germany once and found one immigrant whose occupation was listed as peasant. No idea how that got written down either: frustrated US agent, stupid immigrant, etc. Asuuming your ancestor was naturalized, the papers SHOULD ID the ship he came on. The operative word here being SHOULD <grin>. And assuming you can find the naturalization papers. They aren't always easy to find. The US census will tell you if they were naturalized. Theoretically....of course they coulda lied. Sometimes they gave a different answer on every census. Don't know why they did that. Unless you can interogate them, it's a waste of time to pursue. Genealogy is about things we can prove....it's durn hard enough to just gather THAT stuff!! My own experience is that some of our British ancestors of the working classes were quite leary of the government in your period. My radical coal miner ancestors (Co Durham to Michigan to Ohio circa 1880) didn't bother to register the births of their children in Durham Eng. Of course they didn't go to church either. My gg granddad's two wives gave different surnames on their marriage certificates than they gave when registering what children they did register the births of. I think they lied deliberately. Maybe yours were just playing games with Da Man too. Mine came from a whole parish in England where there are no death records (Weardale in Stanhope). I think they practiced Tibetan Air Burial. Also a village of Scots Presbyterians up there, evading the Church of Engerland for several hundreds of years. I think they ate any vicars they caught in the vicinity. That's the Borders. Some of us didn't get run out by King Jamie in the 1600s. We hid better than you-all's ancestors and continued to be ourselves, well, up to today!! Maybe we should figure out a way to channel these guys and get some answers. I just fear I'll never understand the English spoken by my Geordie ancestors if I did bring them back from the grave. I can understand Belfast English fine but not Geordie. I know, I spent a week in Durham a few years ago, not able to understand anyone!! Maybe your's talked kinda funny too, which might account for the mistaken nationality.... Lots of Irish went to the industrial areas of Yorkshire and Durham. Best of luck, Linda Merle ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at mail.fea.net