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We're trying to find info on my husband's great grandfather, who we know was born in Ireland in approximately 1820. Have tracked him through US Census from 1860 to his death in 1902.
But have not been able to find him in 1850 or earlier census so thinking that may be timeframe of his travel to United States. However can't find anything on Ancestry Worldwide or Ireland genealogy sites. Any suggestions?
Also how do you research someone when there are so many spelling variations (and just plain mis-spellings) of the surname? That's our other difficulty in this search.
The 1900 census shows immigration year. I assume you searched ship manifests. They don't have a lot of information -- maybe the port of embarkation would help and dates. See if others of the family are listed. If the surname is uncommon enough you might be able to look for the name in a specific region or parish records. That's how I found my ancestors in Tralee. Baptismal records and marriages show parents and witnesses which can be a clue to other family.
I joined FindMyPast and found a lot of records on my Irish ancestors. I didn't find much that was new with public and parish records, but the newspapers were VERY helpful--with birth announcements, marriage announcements, death notices, articles about lawsuits. Also, the probate records I found there, I had not seen anyone else. They really helped me figure out who someone's parents wans siblings were.
I think you can sign up for a month, and then just cancel if you don't wish to continue. you definitely want the World version, not the US version.
Another site that is helpful in a spotty was is Rootschat.com. It's a free discussion forum, like this site, for UK and Ireland, but broken down by county. You post questions there, and if you're lucky, people jump in and send a bunch of information. I didn't do so well with the people in the Irish county I was interested in (Roscommon) but people on Leicester England were immensely helpful. So like I said: spotty. Also on the site are a bunch of "stickies' in each forum with lots of links to UK and Ireland resources.
Thanks all for your great suggestions. I will check out those sites.
SunGrins, unfortunately the census person either neglected to ask date of immigration or did not write it in as that column is blank. It does however say he came from Ireland.
The surname is not that unusual (I don't think), but when you try to spell it phonetically it is easy to substitute the letter i, e, and a. In the federal and New York State census records I have there are 5 different spellings, one of which has a c rather than e. I'm not even sure if our current spelling is how it was originally in Ireland.
Was he a civil war veteran? Many Irish were. Military records NARA sometimes have additional info. For union veterans-- GAR posts kept track of their members.
Was he Catholic? Parish records are an excellent resource. Did he belong to a fraternal organization?
Did he participate in one of the gold rushes? Poll tax lists were often kept, as well as, jury lists.
Land records, military bounty, homestead filings can help pin down location & time.
I have located hard to find people by looking at the census for the supsected area page by page.
Post your ancestor name (spouse if known) birth estimate, & known locations. I can think of several genealogy sleuths who post here & will find something--- if it exists online.
Last edited by historyfan; 11-21-2016 at 04:52 PM..
Reason: edit
Was he a civil war veteran? Many Irish were. Military records NARA sometimes have additional info. For union veterans-- GAR posts kept track of their members.
Was he Catholic? Parish records are an excellent resource. Did he belong to a fraternal organization?
Did he participate in one of the gold rushes? Poll tax lists were often kept, as well as, jury lists.
Land records, military bounty, homestead filings can help pin down location & time.
I have located hard to find people by looking at the census for the supsected area page by page.
Post your ancestor name (spouse if known) birth estimate, & known locations. I can think of several genealogy sleuths who post here & will find something--- if it exists online.
Have no idea if he was a veteran. Pretty positive he was Catholic as the family through the years are Catholic. We really know very little except the following ...
John Minnehan (Minihan, Minehan, Manahan, plus other variations) was born abt 1820 in Ireland. He married Mary Galleger, a widow with two children, who was born in Ireland also abt 1820. Mary's children were Catherine Galleger born abt 1847 and Thomas Galleger born abt 1849. Both children were born in Ireland.
Have no idea if Mary and John were married in Ireland or the United States. I believe they were married approximately late 1850's. The first I can find of them in the US is 1860 census in Genessee County New York. They eventually moved to Livingston County New York where they both died in 1902, John passing away on the day of Mary's burial. John and Mary had four children, Henry, James, Mary and Ellen.
I have them pretty well traced from 1860 on, but just don't know where to look for earlier info. Thanks for any and all suggestions.
I just started searching my Irish ancestors but they've got really common names e.g Patrick Oreilly so it's proving impossible.
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