Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My cousin has an Ancestry membership and I have tried to research my great grandparents but have gotten nowhere. This is the only information I have:
Maternal great grands.....I'm not sure when they came from Ireland during the latter half of the 1800's but I think they originally settled in Middletown NY. I have their names but no birth dates, marriage or death. My grandmother (their daughter) was born there in 1888.
Paternal great grands......lived in Temesvar Hungary which became Romania after WW1. I have their names and again no other dates. My grandmother (their daughter) was born there in 1903.
I have no idea where to start to find out more info about them. Thank you for any help!
- Search for your grandparents as children on the U.S. census when they were living with their parents. That will provide additional information such as ages and date of immigration, although the information is not always accurate. It will still help when looking at other records such as passenger lists.
- Then look for the great grandparents on each subsequent census. Note when only one spouse is listed and is shown as widowed. Note where they lived in their later years as that as that is a clue as to where they may be buried. The gravestones may give date of births.
Collect as much U.S. information as you can before you move to the Hungarian records. If your great grandparents were Catholic, they are probably in this database:
The problem is that if they weren't Hungarian, their first names would still be translated and recorded as the Hungarian equivalent of their first name. This is a site I used often to find the Hungarian equivalent of a first name: Behind the Name: Meaning of Names, Baby Name Meanings
Maternal great grands.....I'm not sure when they came from Ireland during the latter half of the 1800's but I think they originally settled in Middletown NY. I have their names but no birth dates, marriage or death. My grandmother (their daughter) was born there in 1888.
One thing you need to be aware of is that sometimes tracing your Irish ancestors back through Ireland can be difficult. In 1922, the Irish National Archives was burned to the ground during the Irish Civil War. Millions of valuable records dating back for centuries went up in smoke.
I was reminded of this last week while talking to a coworker about genealogy. His family was Irish and he gave me a tall tale about tracing his family line back for centuries to ancient Irish kings. --I bit my tongue and kept quiet, even though what he was telling me was a bunch of Irish blarney. There are no records to substantiate his claim.
We'd need names to help you do searches, if that's what you're looking for. You should be able to find your great grandparents in US records once they were here, but Irish research is difficult because records from Ireland can be scarce.
You also need to realize the records your searching are only as good as the person writing them down.
Census's are a big help. You can find families living on the same street, the same town, the same county. That's how immigrants settled here, they sought out 'their people' and settled where they spoke their language, practiced their religion, or could pursue the trade they had back home.
If I was starting from scratch, I'd go to my living relatives and see if they have old records, an old bible, photos, or stories. They would know where the family are buried, where they've lived. What they tell you may or may not be true but it gives you a start.
The census is every 10 years. You need the spouse, wife, and possible children's names and what town, county, and state they lived in. The older the census the fewer details. But if you know they're from one area then you can cross reference that with tax rolls. Tax rolls aren't something everyone researches but when you have 5 John Carson in one small town, you have to figure out which one is your ancestor. Everyone pays taxes and when the spouse dies, the taxes and inheritance goes to the wife or son. If you have the names you can track this.
Try to find as many different records as you can. Vital statistics, (yes you can write for death certificates), cemetery records, church, census, etc. From personal experience I've found names written wrong on the census and mistakes on genealogy search sites. Again, the information you're looking for should come from the original source, not someone else's research. Take the time and do it right. If you have more questions do post again.
My cousin has an Ancestry membership and I have tried to research my great grandparents but have gotten nowhere. This is the only information I have:
Maternal great grands.....I'm not sure when they came from Ireland during the latter half of the 1800's but I think they originally settled in Middletown NY. I have their names but no birth dates, marriage or death. My grandmother (their daughter) was born there in 1888.
Paternal great grands......lived in Temesvar Hungary which became Romania after WW1. I have their names and again no other dates. My grandmother (their daughter) was born there in 1903.
I have no idea where to start to find out more info about them. Thank you for any help!
Have you done DNA yet? That may be a way to help with your Hungarian side. I did mine last year, wasn't able to connect 3rd or more cousin matches until I recently found that siblings to both of my mothers parents came to the US. Her fathers brothers last name spelling was changed a little; had I searched find a grave with a partial spelling I would have found them. I have another match that I'm pretty sure comes from her parents too because my cousin in Hungary has Facebook friends with last names that my match has in his family. I just have to ask my cousin if he knows any of the names but I haven't had a chance to ask or research the names myself. The DNA matches can be a useful tool when you don't know much family history. You can also upload to My Heritage and Family Tree DNA for free to get more matches.
If you want directions for uploading if you do your DNA I have a blog post with links and instructions.
Post what you know--
including full names, all children names & relatives you know names of, places lived, religion, any birthdates, death dates....I will be able to tell in about 10 minutes if I can find anything.
If you are sharing info about anyone living, click on my name & send me a private message instead of posting.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
