Many thanks Aghadowey, I've been trying to track down confirmation of my late father birth for the past 15 years but without success. His mothers family were Irish Travelling Showmen and at the time of his mothers pregnancy she should have been in education at a Catholic Convent in England with her other siblings but she obviously returned to Ireland and appears to have been supported by her parents before she went to the US in 1928. Her parents later separated and Dad seems to have been with his grandfather (Thomas Brennan) in Raphoe, he attended the Raphoe School where his grandfather is is listed as his guardian but no address shown, Dad was confirmed in Raphoe aged 10 yrs old but the records only show him living in Raphoe but no other details. Things have been made even difficult as I haven't been able to find any info regarding Dad's grandfather Thomas Brennan other than earlier ancestry via DNA. years ago I did have contact with a very old man in Raphoe who remembered my father at school and he remembered him living with the McElhinney's. Dad knew his birth father was name French/FFrench but I don't think he ever knew him, tracing via DNA I'm 99% sure I've found his father but he died in 1943 (New Zealand) without having any.. more children. Due to privacy I cannot put too much info re Dad's mother's Irish family as they are very well known and they cannot supply any info but were gobsmacked when I first contacted them about 10 years ago.
