Introduction
I wrote two previous blog postings on how and where to get started with your genealogy research. The first blog posting stressed the importance of establishing goals for your research endeavors and interviewing living family members as the first two steps in your research journey ( https://cosgrove.one-name.net/?p=20&preview_id=20&preview_nonce=2090fcdf33&preview=true&_thumbnail_id=30 ) . The second blog posting stressed the importance of organizing research efforts and storing the information you collect early on in your research opposed to waiting until you have accumulated an Everest-sized mountain of documents (both physical and digital) ( https://cosgrove.one-name.net/?p=40&preview_id=40&preview_nonce=bb14e07eee&preview=true ).
This third blog posting will focus on some recommendations on different techniques, websites, and records collections that you can use to help you research your Irish family lines. My goal is to provide my readers with ideas and recommendations that differ from, yet complement, the traditional Irish genealogy research techniques you often read about in reputable books and websites.
Researching Irish families is a tricky and often frustrating journey for most genealogists, especially those who descend from Irish immigrants (regardless of where their Irish immigrants eventually settled: US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or another country). The reason Irish genealogy research is so tricky and frustrating for those of us who descend from Irish immigrants is most of our Irish ancestors simply listed “Ireland” as their place of origin on most of their adopted countries’ records, such as census records, death certificates, etc. Knowledge regarding the ancestor’s place of origin did not survive past a generation or two after his or her passing. Many of us who identify as descendants of the Irish Diaspora yearn to know, often with great passion, where our Irish ancestors originated. Its not enough for many of us to know that we are of Irish descent…..we want to re-establish our family connections back to a specific county, city, or town where our ancestors lived……and if we are lucky enough, where our distant cousins still reside. This is the “Holy Grail of Irish Genealogy.”
Countless books and websites have been written that specifically address Irish genealogy research methods. They all address the challenges and frustrations I discussed above. However, I feel like many of the methods and recommendations that they offer, which are very similar across the various references themselves, suggest that critical pieces of information on your ancestors’ places of origin can be simply found in vital records, passenger lists, or census records. My experience and those I often engage with suggest that such information is NOT found in these records, though exceptions do exist as they always do. Instead, I have complied a list of techniques, records, and sources that are not often discussed in great detail (or not at all) in books, blogs, and other sites that have been helpful to both fellow project members and myself over the last few years.
Recommendations
The following recommendations are proven techniques that others and I have used to break through our brick walls. Its rare that a single recommendation alone with provide you with the missing piece of information you are struggling to find. Typically, you will need to employ a combination of different methods as well as to collect information from across several different records and sites to provide the irrefutable evidence required to confidently link your Irish ancestor back to a place of origin in Ireland. So lets get started!
Tip #1: Develop a hypothesis to guide your research.
Often times, family historians and genealogists jump head first into their research without taking a moment to develop a hypothesis to help focus and drive their research efforts. A solid, testable hypothesis will help you identify and understand the types of information you need to either prove or disprove the hypothesis. This is critical to help focus your research efforts and help you identify reputable and credible sources of information to examine…..without such focus, its easy for us to expend a significant amount of time, and sometimes money, on aimless research endeavors.
Tip #2. Use forums, discussion boards, and social media to network and collaborate
My own brick wall into my Cosgrove family line was, in my opinion, significant. I examined every record collection I could find on Ancestry.com, American Ancestors, Find My Past, and Family Search. I even had a couple of seasoned researchers visit the Massachusetts State Archives and other records depositories in hope of uncovering records that may not have yet made it onto the internet. They didn’t have any luck.
Then I stumbled upon Family Tree Circles (https://www.familytreecircles.com/). It is a crowdsourcing forum where you can post questions and issues regarding your genealogy research. Fellow members will offer advice and suggestions for you to explore. In my case, a person provided a significant amount of search results using my 3rd great-grandparents’ names as the search criteria. Apparently, they tweaked the search parameters in a way that I had not thought of yet . While I could easily dismiss 98% of the suggested records the person provided due to wrong time periods or locations, there were a small handful of records that I myself had overlooked during my own research that eventually has profound impacts on my ability to break through my brick wall. The small handful of records he or she provided me led to my own discovery of some very critical records. Another bonus about Family Tree Circles is its free to set up an account!
I know many people despise Facebook, but there are several Irish Genealogy Groups on the site that are well managed and helpful. Traditional genealogy groups for most, if not all, of the 32 Counties exist as well as DNA specific groups for all of Ireland and many of the Counties. Word of caution though, the group administrators for the traditional genealogy site have little to no patience for DNA discussions…..they will immediately direct you to join a DNA group if the topic comes up…..make sure you read the group rules because most are tightly enforce!
In addition to county-level groups, there are general Irish genealogy groups as well. It was in one such group that I posted a question, mostly out of frustration, on where I could search for a marriage record for my Cosgrove-Dunn ancestors in Limerick City. I had explained that the record I ordered from the Latter Day Saints was only a marriage index and did not offer any credible information I was hoping it would. A kind gentleman conducted a record search at Rootsireland.ie and found a transcription of my 3rd great-grandparents marriage record……it was the one record that proved instrumental in tearing down my brick wall!
Several of the major genealogy sites, such as Ancestry, have discussion boards available that you can participate in as part of your subscription. Some discussion boards focus on a specific surnames, geographical location, and families. It doesn’t hurt to post a question, though it could be a VERY long time (ie, months and years) before anyone responds to it. I subscribe to the Cosgrove and Clifford discussion boards on Ancestry.com and offer advice whenever I can to people who have posted questions or issues.
Tip #3. Locate your ancestor’s naturalization paperwork!
Personally, I believe it is uncommon to find a census record or vital record (i.e., marriage record of some type) that lists an ancestor’s exact place of birth in Ireland. Often times, you will only see the word “Ireland” in the column for place of birth/origin. If you are lucky, you may see a county listed in the entry. However, I have had much different luck finding a place of origin on naturalization records. Here in the United States, we have two types of naturalization records that genealogists may want to review: Declaration of Intent and the Petition for Naturalization. I have had several ancestors list a county of origin back in Ireland on either one or both types of naturalization records, which allowed me to focus my research efforts into a specific county as opposed to across all of Ireland. I found about 25% of my naturalized ancestors listed their counties of origins on their naturalization records, which is a significantly higher percentage than what I found on other records (less than 5% on census and vital records).
Tip #4. Expand your understanding of immigration patterns.
There is much to learn about immigration patterns. I cannot possibly explain them all in this blog entry. Immigration patterns are important because Irish immigrants tended to live in neighborhoods and cities where family and friends from back in Ireland now lived. If you can determine where your ancestor’s fellow Irish neighbors lived in Ireland, you may have discovered your own ancestor’s place of origin. Plus, it was not uncommon for merchants to recruit Irish natives from specific geographic areas to travel together on chartered ships. In other words, if several immigrants listed County Wexford as their place of origin on the passenger manifests, then there is a possibility that your Irish ancestor(s) came from County Wexford as well. There are a few things to keep in mind when searching for your ancestor’s immigration records:
- They could have first arrived in Canada before eventually moving to the United States. Two out of my eight Irish family lines who immigrated to the United States first arrived in Canada and actually lived there for a few years before eventually moving to the States.
- Even though they may have lived in a port city, that doesn’t mean that is the city they arrived in. Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Charleston, and New Orleans were some of the more popular ports where Irish immigrants first arrived. Since my Cosgrove line lived in Boston, I reviewed countless passenger lists from Boston line by line in hopes of finding the specific ship and date they immigrated to the United States. Long story short, they had arrived in New York City and eventually made their way to Boston a few months after their arrival. Painful lesson learned that I am glad to share with others.
- Be aware that your ancestor may have had a different name or spelled the name differently than the one he or she used once had lived in the States for a while. It took me two years of research to realize that my 2nd great grandfather, John Patrick Cosgrove, was actually named Patrick Michael Cosgrove on his baptism record from Limerick. Once I made this discovery, I was able to quickly locate his passenger list under Patrick Cosgrove. Included on the passenger list were his parents and several of his siblings….right names and ages…plus the names matched the surviving children who did not die in infancy.
- Also, be aware of surname variants. While some families’ surnames were spelled the same way from record to record with some level of consistency, others were not. I have seen countless examples across all of Ireland where the surnames Cosgrove, Cosgrave, Coscar, Cosgriff, and others were used interchangeably from record to record…..and even on the same record (father’s last name was spelled Cosgrove and the child Cosgriff on one of my own family’s birth records!). So while your family may have the last name Cosgrove today, they may have immigrated with the last name Cosgrave, Cosker, or Cosgriff instead!
Tip #5. Don’t be overly reliant upon search engines on popular genealogy sites.
Many people may not be aware how search engines on sites like Ancestry or Find My Past function. Long story short, in order to search for a record, the company itself has to upload an image of the record (lets say a marriage register) to the site. Then, volunteers (people like you and I) will transcribe the information listed in the record into the website’s database. Once saved, the information typed into the database is now searchable. So if the person correctly transcribed my ancestors’ marriage register, the image of the record should appear in the results along with any transcribed information based on the names, locations, and dates I typed in the search fields.
Assuming the record exists first and foremost, and that it is uploaded onto a genealogy site, a successful search will be reliant upon whether the person conducting the transcription 1) could read the penmanship to accurately record the information, 2) did not make any errors such as omissions or spelling errors, and 3) the record itself contained important and accurate information needed to make the transcription possible. For three months I searched for my a death record for one of my Cosgrove family members in Massachusetts. Only five records appeared in the results and I never bothered to look at the actual digital images because the search results listed different names (other than Cosgrove) than what I had typed into the search engine. One day, out of shear frustration and boredom, I clicked one of the records and looked at the image. I was shocked to find out it was the record I had been looking for! The penmanship on the actual record was poor…..while I could make out hand written last name “Cosgrove,” the person who transcribed the record wrote Cognan based on how the writing appeared. In their defense, I could see how they could make the determination it was Cognan and not Cosgrove based on how poorly the name was written on the record. Cognan was the name that came up in the search results, not Cosgrove. Once I was aware of this issue, I did not hesitate to physically review records even if the names on the search results were different than what I had typed in….you never know.
I found a similar issue with city directories. I know I had a particular family line that lived in Bridgewater, MA for decades. However, their names were not appearing in search results in the city directory collections. I started to manually look through the city directories page by page and found them. When I looked at the transcriptions, the record was mislabled…..the volunteer listed them under “Brockton” as opposed to “Bridgewater.” So my specific search criteria of “Kerr”, “1912”, and “Bridgewater” was in theory correct, though failed to appear at all in the search results because their records were transcribed under “Brockton” and not Bridgewater. I found a treasure trove of city directories for multiple family lines once I figured out manual reviews were required.
I also found out that while Ancestry and FamilySearch records collections overlap, that does not mean they have the same identical records in those collections. I had two instances where both sites had two identical passenger lists’ records collections, but one had the record I was looking for pertaining to my Cosgroves and the other site did not. Conversely, the second site had the passenger list for my Cliffords and the first site did not. I only discovered this by manually looking through each individual passenger list for the given month of the families’ respective immigration to the US as opposed to relying on the search results. Since I knew the month and year they immigrated, the manual search was bearable….and very fruitful.
If you are absolutely confident that a record exists for a specific person at a specific time and place, you may either want to physically visit the archive where the record is maintained or conduct a manual search of the record collection on the website (or multiple websites as I have found was needed) as opposed to relying on the site’s search results.
Part III(B) will include several further recommendations to include searching British records collections, cemetery records, and electoral records.
I would love to hear from readers on any recommendations that might be out of the norm that have lead to their successful discoveries of information that helped break down the brick walls in their research.