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Try to follow census records, church records, immigration records, etc to find out their names, where they came from by town in Ireland,when, and anything else to thoroughly identify them.
Then you can use the data bases in Northern Ireland and Ireland as appropriate or local records from the appropriate town. and can hire a geneologist to over there to find what they can.
www.ancestry.com is another good resource. Ancestry is a subscription site, but is availalbe for free on many public library computers.
Try to interview older relatives. Find your family on U.S. census & vital records. Naturalizations (especially post-1906 nats) can have great data. Passenger manifests for NY can be searched through www.stevemorse.org
Family Search & Ancestry also have passenger manifest data.
A lot can be found on the internet these days. When we started doing genealogy two decades ago we had to schlep to the archives & troll through reels of microfilm. LOL
Ancestry is very sparse on the Irish stuff I am finding. Most irish were Catholic. If you can get a city where they lived, you might be able to find the diocese and access some parish records, etc. That helps. Catholics like to keep records... Also obituaries may list county where they came from and other relations you can trace back for clues.
My three or so x great grandfather was an Orangeman from Ulster. He had a wife and two children. Then, just after the US civil war, something compelled him to leave immediately. He arrived in America and within a year married another Ulster Irish immigrant, who are grandparents.
I'd sure like to find out something about the wife and child and see if I have any cousins running around Ulster anymore. I'd also like to read up on what current events were happening say just before he took off for America.
Sometimes you can find their naturalization records and that will tell you where they came from originally. I used the National Archives. He left his wife and children behind? That's a strange story, wonder if he got into some kind of trouble. Maybe you can find a ship's list and his name would be there among the other immigrants. Try a google search for Ships Lists and give some general years. Also, it would help to know where he arrived. New York? Boston? Somewhere else?
Ancestry is very sparse on the Irish stuff I am finding. Most irish were Catholic. If you can get a city where they lived, you might be able to find the diocese and access some parish records, etc. That helps. Catholics like to keep records... Also obituaries may list county where they came from and other relations you can trace back for clues.
So one mentioned Ancestry.co.uk in another thread.
Maybe they have more Irish records? It would seem they'd have the same things though.
Sometimes you can find their naturalization records and that will tell you where they came from originally. I used the National Archives. He left his wife and children behind? That's a strange story, wonder if he got into some kind of trouble. Maybe you can find a ship's list and his name would be there among the other immigrants. Try a google search for Ships Lists and give some general years. Also, it would help to know where he arrived. New York? Boston? Somewhere else?
I think he was young because if I remember correctly(my aunt has the records) he got married and had kids out here in America.
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