Prepare for Irish Research

Written By: Jayne McGarvey

Introduction – What You Should Have Gathered So Far:

If you have worked your way through the previous four modules of Stage 3 you will have:

• Researched the History of the Area Your Ancestor Lived in Following Immigration and Record Collections Available.
• Introduced any new information into your Timeline and Research Plan.
• Researched various Record Sets in your Ancestors area of Immigration.
• Reconciled any Conflicting Evidence uncovered.

Of course, you may need to work your way through this list a number of times – each time extending the number and type of collections you review, especially if your ancestor’s records lack the information you need.

Additionally, some members will need to widen their research to include any relatives of their ancestor. Remember the goal is to establish which County and ideally which Civil Parish your ancestor originated from in Ireland BEFORE you tackle records on the island of Ireland.

However….

What If You Have Not Discovered A Place of Origin in Ireland?

If you are successful in locating which Irish County and/or Civil Parish your ancestor originated from – then you will be able to begin your research with confidence when tackling the Irish records.

However, it is unlikely to be that straightforward for everyone. Sometimes the records we find did not contain the necessary information. Sometimes the records were not created. Sometimes the records did not survive.

Also, some members may still not be able to resolve conflicting information. For example, say “Mary Ann” was the name of your ancestor – and she had two daughters. Say that on various records one daughter records her mother’s maiden name as Murphy the other daughter records it as Collins.

What should you do when such frustration is your only reward for considerable hard work?

If you are searching for an Irish immigrant with a common Irish name such as “Mary Collins” or “John Murphy” – and none of the records in their place of immigration give anything more than “Ireland” as a place of birth, it is likely you will have a difficult job on your hands.

This does not mean you cannot find where your ancestor originated in Ireland. There are other techniques and research methodology that can help you find your ancestor’s Irish origin such as:

• A document or headstone in Ireland that provides your ancestor’s US address like the above headstone at Millisle Presbyterian Church in County Down.
• DNA analysis.
• Surname location analysis.
• Even small clues such as the names of children and order of their birth can provide tentative information that can help rank potential areas of further research in Ireland.
• Further clues may be obtained from FAN research in your ancestor’s adopted country.
• Two of the most useful facts you can establish are the earliest date that you can definitively place your ancestor in their adopted county AND a calculation of time taken for them to travel between their homeland and adopted country. A combination of these will give you a reasonably definitive date after which your ancestor should not be located in Ireland (unless they returned for a visit or to stay).

Note: It is also possible that you may need to employ a professional genealogist outside The Green Room e.g. to locate a document that is held in a physical archive that you cannot access in person. In any case, ask our in-house Genealogists for more advice if you are not sure about what options are available.

Conclusion and What To Do Next

You may have collected a lot of information at this point, so now is the time to go back over your records and extract all the evidence that you have located. Then, collate this information into a summary document before you begin to explore the records in Ireland. When I say “summary Document”, I think it is time to draw up a new “Research Planning Worksheet” before heading back to Ireland to search the Irish record sets.

If you have not been able to ascertain where your ancestor originated in Ireland – then go to the Ask The Genealogist section of the forum (see link below). 

That completes Stage 3 of the Green Room Research Roadmap. In Stage 4 we look at researching your ancestor in Ireland.

Click Here To Ask Our Genealogist a Question Related to This Module.