I've been researching our families for two years this month. We started with 20 names (other than our own) and just recently topped 5,000. I wasted a GREAT deal of time because I was hung up on spelling. I had no problem with my own surname, which was ARMSTRONG, nobody ever does anything to that. But when we started working the Irish names horrible things started happening. At last count we had 27 spellings for Holleran! Initially, if the name wasn't spelled the same I assumed (oh! how pained I am to recall this!) it was a different family. If the name sounds the same or similar, collect info on it, especially if the time and place are about right. Even the learned men 100 years ago had limited spelling capabilities, especially when the person giving the name was illiterate and didn't recognize it was being spelled incorrectly. To prove a point: I just called a newly found cousin (a real cousin I didn't know I had). He had been to the town in Ireland from when our Holohan relatives came and he went into a department store named "Holohan's" to inquire about people by that name in the area. He was told there were no such people. When he pointed to the sign, the man said, "Oh, that's (phonetically) Hulihn, not Holohan." Question: If you had heard Hulihn, how would you have spelled it?

I have a second hint. Go ahead and listen to those family legends about what happened to your ancestors. But my grandfather 'who came from Canada as a young boy' didn't come from Canada! He was born in NY, as was HIS father, and his grandfather. I'm still not sure where the gr-grandfather came from. Thus far, not a single legend has been proven. Happy hunting. This is a great way to occupy your time. You'll meet some wonderfully helpful people along the way.