Genealogy Chat

Are there any members of GR who actually live in Ireland?

M. Steer

I think that Theresa (the one with Irish blood in her veins) lives in Ireland

I used to live in Ireland and still go there for work a couple of times a month.

Wrong Peter......

I live in England..not Ireland..wish I did!

Sorree.

The reason for my asking?.....

We all know how difficult it is to research our Irish Ancestors.

I've received a great deal of help from and have been in contact with many Members from various parts of the world but to my knowledge, never anyone from Ireland.

Does GR extend to Ireland?

M. Steer

My husband is Irish (Northern) and we have been contacted through GR by a 2nd cousin who lives in Belfast, so yes some members do live in Ireland

This site is used by quite a few who live in Ireland, but I know that some of them are having just as much trouble as the rest of us in trying to find their Irish ancestors.

One reason being...that the Irish didn't always register the birth of a child (even though they should have) like my Grandparents..they never registerd the birth of my Mum ...and only have a Baptism certificate as proof of their existence.

Then a lot of families moved about on a regular basis so going back to a particular church where one child was baptised looking for others on the Parish Records,... reveals zilch!

My Gt grandparents lived at 7 addresses between 1874-1894 in Co Dublin. Tracking them down as been a long hard slog...and even yesterday a second cousin told me that they were living at yet another address when he eventually found his grandfather's marriage to one of my Gran's sisters.

I've also come to the conclusion that large families don't keep in touch with one another either.

Some aunts and uncles only keep in touch with a few family members..their closest sibling/s and a couple of cousins.

When you find out who their cousins are....that's the biggest breakthrough! It can lead you to finding living relatives that you never knew about...I know cos I've found quite a few that way.

We all wish now that we had started tracing our family tree when our parents were still alive.... to gather up this information then......which has taken us years to discover and piece together!

Will priests / vicars in Ireland check for a baptism for you if you telephone and ask?

I ask this because I'm good friends with one and he told me he's driven mad looking up baptisms for people calling about their family history these days.

Until he said this, I didn't really realise you could do that, but it made me think maybe a lot of people are.

Teresa, I do appreciate how difficult it is for those in Ireland to research their ancestors. Information there doesn't seem to be so accessible as it is here in the U.K.

My cousin has done some research, he lives in Wicklow but has to travel to Dublin to check records.

As a point of interest - my cousin and I are both 'signed up' to Ancestry - but they are totally different - I can access the UK (he can't), he can access Ireland (I can't).

I wasn't being critical - I just wondered! I've seen so many Threads (offering 'look-ups', visiting Graveyards etc.) from people in various countries but I've never seen anything from someone in Ireland.

Al, don't know quite what to say about 'phoning priests/vicars! Another cousin of mine was on a visit 'home' to Ireland from Canada - he went to the Parish Church to see if he could get some info., on his Grandmother. The Parish Priest sent him away 'with a flea in his ear'.

I'm half Irish (and proud of it) and Catholic but I tell you, some of those Priests...........!

M. Steer



M. Steer

I have found that by visiting parish priests in the church after a mass and asking politely for a particular look up on a baptismal register for named people, giving approximate dates is most often OK and most priests will comply with equal courtesy. Where problems can and do arise is if you turn up at a busy or an inconvenient time and you do not really know what you are looking for. They can get get very irritated if too many people turn up and they are having to do too many searches. They are not there for the purpose of our genealogy.I always give a donation to their church funds.

In the main, approaching the priest should be your last resort, and not your first thoughts, because you can access most of the available Parish Registers on microfilm in the National Library Dublin for Catholic Baps and the National Archives Dublin for Protestant Baps. However, the Diocese of Cashel and Emly, which includes Tipperary and parts of Limerick, is closed to the general public for you to research in Dublin, so this is the reason I have gone around the churches in Tipperary, and although there is a Heritage Centre to which you are supposed to apply for these records and pay a hefty price, the priests in this Diocese are very accommodating.

I have just returned from a trip to Ireland, having visited parishes where the priests were extremely helpful, but fruitless for me!

You can try writing to the priests, but I have found they rarely reply, as time is so short for them these days, as they also are experiencing a shortage of priests and have to run several parishes.

Janet

Janet, you don't happen to live in Co. Kildare do you?

M. Steer

Margaret

I do not live in Ireland, I live near London and just happen to be researching Tipperary and Cork ancestors. Cork comes under the Cloyne Doocese and needs a, letter of permission from the Mallow Heritage Centre which is easily obtainable unlike Cashel and Emly!

I have Irish cousins who look to their English cousin to do all their research!

Kildare is easily accessible through the Dublin National Library but it will need a visit.

Janet

Thanks Janet, unfortunately, I'm unable to visit the Dublin National Library.

What is the Mallow Heritage Centre?

M. Steer

Hi Margaret,
I live in Donegal so I'm a good bit away from Co. Kildare. Mallow Heritage Centre is in Co. Cork. Google it for results.
Anne

Margaret,

As Anne has already replied, the Mallow Heritage Centre can be found by googling, but this will not help you with Co Kildare ancestors. Mallow Heritage Centre will only deal with Cork Ancestry in the Cloyne Diocese. It is handy to know which diocese as well as county that your ancestors are from then you can google to find out more.

I know Ireland is a long way to travel, but sadly this is the only real way to access the Parish Records pre 1864.

The other way is to access the Griffiths Valuation and Tithe Aplotments which are accessible for a very reasonable fee on Irish Origins. Tithes are about 1820's/1830's whilst Griffiths are about 1840's/1850's. This will only give head of household, but can often give you leads. You can access the Griffiths INDEX for free but this will not give you so much information as the FULL Griffiths on Irish Origins for which you have to pay.

Remember that though everybody is on Griffiths, not everybody is on the Tithe Aplotments.

The digitisdation of the 1901 and 1911 Census is underway, with Dublin coming online for free shortly, and the rest of Ireland to follow over the next 2 years. I eagerly await this, as I know it will catch many of mine bap around 1833+. Many of the names I have from cousins will be found in these census, which will then give me approximate dates of birth, so I may then be able to get Certs for those after 1864.

At present these census are only available if you know the address which is not a lot of use when you know your folk moved around a lot!

If you know an address then you can access the census through the LDS centres at a very reasonable cost.

Janet

Janet, Thankyou for your reply.

It's difficult, isn't it?

My Mother was born in Co.Kildare, I have her Birth Cert., I know who her parents were, and each of her siblings but beyond that? I'm stuck!

M. Steer

I rang the church were my mum was baptised and gave her details, they posted out her marriage cert for me i was delighted.

That was a church in Inchicore Dublin.

The Irish Times online archive (10 euro per day to use!) is how I found out a fair bit about my husband's family. They had a business that was in the papers a fair bit, plus there were several personal notices. Obviously this is no use in many cases though, as many families would never have been in the paper.