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Shaking Your Family Tree

August 05, 1999
	In Search of Irish Ancestors by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.
Learn everything possible about your immigrant Irish ancestor and his family in North American records. Clues to the ancestral village or town are often found in family papers, on tombstones, in church records, naturalization and military papers. If the information is not in records for your ancestor, perhaps it will be found in those of his brothers or sisters. Immigrants often moved in groups. If you cannot determine the origin your ancestor, trace one or more of the families who might have moved with him or lived near him. They often stayed near each other after settling in North America. Keep in mind that family traditions may be entirely incorrect. Your ancestor might have said he came from Belfast, Dublin, Cork, or Waterford, when in fact he sailed from that port, but he was actually from elsewhere. Prior to about 1850, ships did not have exact sailing schedules. This forced some of our ancestors to move to a seaport town for a short time. Additionally, many small ships took Irish passengers to England, especially Liverpool, where they had to wait for a larger ship going to North America. Some sources for Irish researchers -- all available from Genealogical Publishing Co., (1001 N. Calvert St. Baltimore, MD 21202-3897; 800-296-6687; http://www.genealogybookshop.com/) -- include: -- Irish Immigrants to North America (CD No. 7257). This new CD is composed of 10 volumes of Irish passenger lists, which name approximately 60,000 immigrants between 1735 and 1871. Originally published in several volumes, the CD includes a name index to all of the books. Included are: Irish Emigration to New England through the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1841 to 1849 and Irish Passenger Lists 1847-1871 (lists of passengers sailing from Londonderry to America on ships of the Cooke and McCorkell Lines). CD No. 7257 sells for $33.49 postpaid; it requires either Family Tree Maker version 3.02 or higher or the Family Archive Viewer Version 3.02 or higher, which is free with the purchase of this CD. -- In Search of Your British and Irish Roots (4th edition, 320 pages), by Angus Baxter, is now updated to include information about the transfer of important genealogical records from Chancery Land and St. Catherine's House to the new Family Records Centre in London; the establishment of the Irish Genealogical Project and the 1998 amalgamation of the Public Record Office and State Paper Office into the National Archives of Ireland. ($22.45 postpaid). -- Irish gravestone Inscriptions: A Guide to Sources in Ulster, by William O'Kane & Eoin Kerr, editors (57 pages). This is a guide to the 900 cemeteries surveyed in the nine counties of Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Louth, Monaghan, and Tyrone with pointers for the researcher to follow for acquiring full details of individual gravestone inscriptions. It lists all the cemeteries surveyed to date by Heritage World of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Arranged by county, all cemeteries are listed by the civil parish in which they are located, together with their religious denomination. ($11.45 postpaid). -- On the Web visit: Ireland GenWeb Project http://www.pa-roots.com/ireland/ Northern Ireland GenWeb Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~nirwgw/ Ireland GENUKI (United Kingdom and Ireland Genealogy) home page http://www.genuki.org/uk/big/irl/index.html The Irish at Home and Abroad, http://www.ihaonline.com/irishlinks.htm (c) 1999, Los Angeles Times Syndicate Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter Return to Myra Vanderpool Gormley Main Page Return to Columns Main Page
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