I am trying to locate a great grandfather. According to his Civil War service/pension records he was born in South Boston about 1844. His parents, according to census records, were both from Ireland. He was Catholic. His name when he enlisted in the Civil War was Patrick William Moran. In later life he went by William P. Moran. He died in Olyphant, Lackawanna County, PA in 1895 and is buried in PA. According to his enlistment record, he was residing in Lawrence, MA when he enlisted. His father gave consent for him to join. I suppose because he was under age 21 at the time. It appears that his father was P. C. Moran, however, the old script is difficult to read. He said he was age 18 when he enlisted in Feb. 1862. His occupation is shown as operative in some records and gardener in others. I used HeritageQuest to pull up all Morans in Essex and Suffolk counties in 1860. I cannot seem to find a Patrick or a William or a name beginning with a "C" such as Charles if the father was called by his middle name that would be a possible match. The earliest census record that I found is 1870. He is living in PA with his wife, daughter, and MIL.

With as little as I know about the family of Patrick William in MA, is there any possibility of finding a record from circa 1844 in Boston records?