IrelandGenWeb-L Archives

From: "Jean Rice" <>
Subject: [IGW] Some Resources for Irish Research
Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2002 12:49:24 -0700

Some Resources for Research:

IreAtlas for townland information:
http://www.seanruad.com/

An unusual given name may be a "surname in disguise," -- i.e., mother's
maiden name. Names were repeated from one generation to the next. Often
the first son and daughter carried the paternal grandparents' names, the
second the maternal grandparents.

1. The Filby volumes in your genealogy library. Mr. Filby transcribed data
on thousands of immigrants worldwide to the USA and Canada from hundreds of
passenger lists and fragments thereof circa late 1700s to early 1900s. Keep
track of which of the 10 or so volumes you have looked in, as they were
published yearly circa 1980s. Names are alphabetical given info. to include
destination, traveling companions..

2. Perhaps your families or their grown children crossed back and forth
across the Canada/USA border between 1895 to circa 1924/25. Check out the
wonderful St. Alban's VT emigration/immigration border-crossing records.
microfilms found in local LDS (Mormon) Family History Centers, also in
branches of National Archives, Wash. DC. They are something of a misnomer.
While the records were stored in the state of Vermont they pertain to aliens
crossing back and forth at ANY point along the ENTIRE border. All of the
travellers with the same surname (or similar) for that entire period of time
would be found on 1-2 microfilms in alphabetic order. If you are looking
for a John Edmund Smith, for example, also check information on John E.
Smith, John Smith, as well as J. E. Smith, which would be on the same
microfilm in close proximity to each other. The data is in the form of
microfilmed cards and contain such valuable information as traveling
companions, place of birth, date of birth, names and addresses of relatives
in the "old" country, the same at the "intended destination," name of any
ship or train involved in their travel, port, dates, and even descriptive
information such as color of hair, eyes, identifying scars, etc. This
information can even lead you to a second microfilm containing the ships'
manifest. (I speak from experience. I got very lucky, as I had checked out
these particular microfilms not expecting to find any connection to my
family and Canada!). Liverpudlians might take a steamer such as the
"Montcalm," land in Quebec City and immediately take a train across Canada,
entering the USA at some point. It was a cheaper "package deal" offered by
the Canadian Pacific Railway who also owned ships, rather than sailing
straight to the U.S. (Note, St. Albans Soundex Film group is M1461.) I
found information on my dad and his mother and and siblings not only when
they immigrated but later, as they crossed back and forth across the border
to visit, work, honeymoon, and as they left to return on visits to England.

3. My best advice -- For info. on those who immigrated to the USA, contact
the county historical society in the area where they lived and died, see if
a volunteer will help you obtain wills, land deed, and marriage applications
for a
donation to their society. First subscribe to their USA county periodical.
Not only will it demonstrate your interest in "their" county (of which they
have much expertise), but they are more likely to go "all out" for you in
helping find documents on your particular family! In the periodical you can
place queries that are seen by Internet and nonInternet researchers alike.
The periodicals contain information families and towns, and most winter
issues contain an every-name index for that year's issues. Turn of the
century USA county marriage applications often give much information on the
parents of the bride and groom; don't confuse these with marriage
certificates. Wills, land records, b/m/d abstracts give info. on family
relationships place of birth and/or last location lived. The secret to
success is to obtain as many documents you can on the families in the KNOWN
places they lived.

4. Old USA county history books obtained via free interlibrary loan program
and your reference library in the USA (not sure about Canada) give
information on families just because they were early settlers, belonged to
particular agricultural, fraternal or religious organization, were involved
in Civil War, were schoolteachers or held office of some sort. To my
amazement, I found some of my "humble" farming ancestors written up in
these old history books. You don't need the name of an author, just order
"History of ____, ____," with the help of your reference librarian and fill
in the name of the county and state.

5. Many old USA newspapers are microfilmed and available via free
interlibrary loan; your reference librarian has books that tell her what is
available for particular time periods, areas, what newspapers were in
business, etc. Good way to locate death notices. Request the newspaper for
the two days following death and check both the obit and the death notice
sections.

6. If you don't have a definite death date but a good idea of where and
when check out the LDS FHC microfilmed USA state death indexes that are
divided into approximate ten-year increments. Info. includes date of death,
age at death, county of death, spouse's name and number of death
certificate!

7. There are USA Federal Census indexes in book form going all the way back
to the Rev. War divided by state and census year at your genealogy
libraries on the Index Shelf.

8. There MAY still be free census USA look-ups for particular USA counties:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~uslookup/census.html. If not go to your local
LDS (Mormon) Family History Center which is open to all; there are
volunteers to assist you. If they don't have what you need on-site they
will order it for from Salt Lake.

9. Be SURE and read about your surname in Irish and other surname books at
your genealogy library for history behind the name, variations in spelling,
distribution in Ireland. Some surnames were found more often in
particular counties, even some exclusive to particular townlands. The
surname Smith, for example, has different histories depending on which Irish
county it is found in.

10. Ancestry.com has published booklets containing USA city directory data.
They include several decades and help to replace some data for 1890, the
census year that was accidently destroyed.

11. Check out surname information (circa 1890 births) at the Matheson
databases on the Internet. (I note that one database is under the name
"Mateson").

12. I got lucky leaving a query at a school alumni board at an all-boys
school in
England that I thought my uncles' families may have attended. I really
didn't expect a response, but lo, and behold, I got a transatlantic phone
call from a gentleman in England, a retired teacher, who not only knew my
cousins very well but takes one of them (Doris Ford) shopping there in
Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England!. Not only did Mr. Michael Wheeler phone me
with information but he sent me a copy of his book about nearby Langton
Green where some of the family lives. Turns out he is a local historian,
local photographer, and he even sent me a wedding photo of photo of one of
my cousins.

Bottom line, don't get discouraged -- Serendipity is alive and well! And
don't forget to track down ALL our living relatives for their help. You may
find just the right clue to Irish origins in their memories or references in
their old photo albums.

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• [IGW] Some Resources for Irish Research by "Jean Rice" <>