On the census's my gg grandfather is recorded to have been born in Wiltshire but I can find no record of him but my grandad has always been told that there was a change of surname around the time his grandpa was born. The family is from Ireland we believe but as I don't know the original name I've come to a halt. Does anyone have any idea how I could find this out?

tickle

If the surname was changed upon landing in America after the potatoe famine in ireland, I can understand how the name change happened. It happened here when settlers arrived and the census was taken. Names got spelled wrong because some settlers were illiterate and couldnt spell, therefore, when they said their name was Smith, a census taker would spell it Smyth, etc. therefore, leaving it indelibly impressed as 'Smyth' in Ontario records.Geneology records are very hard to trace going back l50 years or so to the old country (Britian, Ireland, Scotland) because there so many immigrants coming across for various reasons, some of them royalists, etc.

I am assuming this happened in your circumstance. You will have to got back to Wiltshire records and sift through all surnames until you find some that are first names attached to them that are familiar to your family records, and then track down.

I am sure you will succeed. This is why geneology is such an interesting hobby, what turns up during searches is utterly amazing.

If you dont understand what I mean, I am sure you will ask, but main thing is, you know were the birth records start and that is sometihing a lot of people dont have.

kindest regards

tick