It took me several years to trace the family back. My starting point was Lexington, Missouri, USA. There was one son, a brother, and nephew all in the Civil War. Their papers pointed me back to County Mayo. Then I had one sister that I traced from a family story that she came in through New Orleans, Louisana, USA in 1855. I found her ship, coming in from Liverpool. Then I found yet another sister born in Liverpool, found her 1849 civil birth record. Then after years of searching, and finally trying more phonetic enumeration of their surname, found the family in the 1851 census. I then started tracing the one son that stayed behind, Edward, but haven't gotten past his children. So goes the story....