Archive for Posts by Country
Kimberly is the Genealogy Researcher/writer for About.com. In this article she lists 12 websites for Irish research.. timely indeed since we have just passed St. Patty’s day.
You can read the full article here. What I like in this list is that there are some that are free and I didn’t know about (Wow the internet is really expanding) with new resources all the time.
I always enjoy Kimberly’s articles because her research is timely and relevant. Keep up the great work!
Have you found a resource for Irish Research not listed on our site or in Kim’s article? Let me know below, I would love to list it and share with all our readers!
Filed under: Ireland | irish genealogy, Irish Research, Researching Irish Ancestors, St. Patricks Day, St. Patty's day|1 Comment
I came across an interesting situation this past week with a friend of mine. I had offered to do some digging around for his family that had immigrated here from Romania.
I had very little to go on, as usually happens and almost right away I hit a brick wall. It seems my friend forgot to mention that he and his family came here under political asylum.
So with that I did a little jump in an attempt to find the family name in Romania… Nope, it was far too big of a jump of one Generation, the currently living side here, and the no longer with us side in Romania. I was able to locate all the living individuals here in the US, but nothing in Romania.
The mystery deepens. My friend told me he was sure that the family was actually descended from the Spanish according to his father. In researching the family name there is not a single instance of the name to be found in Spain or even in Romania but France and Switzerland shows promise. So while I am not giving up on the search I find it incredibly fascinating where a single name can lead you.
It is fun to see where the name leads and I even smiled when he told me the reason I couldn’t find anything outside the US for his family because of the asylum. I guess the moral of the story is, ask the “right” questions before you begin your research so you know the stumbling blocks you may need to overcome.
If you are researching in Romania these links may be helpful for you:
Romania Genealogy Links Page
Romanian White/Yellow Pages (English)
Happy trails…
Filed under: - Romania | - Romania, family tree, political asylum and family research|No Comments
There are of course many resources available to anybody wishing to delve into Australian family genealogy, though one good resource that will stand them in good stead is The National Archives of Australia where you can get a lot of useful information from some very valuable records pertaining to Australia as a whole and which records are easily accessible for the present generation as well as for generations to come.
Excellent System Of Managing Records
One of the hallmarks of the National Archives of Australia is that as a source to trace out Australian genealogy, it keeps an excellent system of managing genealogy charts and records which not only helps it in getting good business, but also helps in making some informed decisions and of course, preserves Australia’s rich cultural heritage.
So, if your ancestors or other family members were from Australia or you are an Australian who wants to learn about Australian genealogy, this is a good source to find out more about your family history, or about various persons of interest and even about other topics related to Australian people. There are some useful tools that you can use and it will also help you to first of all be properly informed about the kind of records held by the National Archives of Australia, and the manner in which they have been arranged.
Thus, using the National Archives of Australia will help you find particular people, though it will help you more in your search of Australian genealogy if you knew whether the persons had migrated to Australia in the twentieth century, served in the Australian armed forces or served in the civil services, were under government surveillance, were of Aboriginal extract or were Torres Strait Islanders, were naturalized in South Australia or colonial Victoria following the year 1904 and whether they have worked for the Government of Australia, or even worked or lived in Australian territories including Papua New Guinea and Norfolk Island.
To help you with your Australian free genealogy search, there are also some DIY tools that you can use including name-based self-service tools, using the finding families guide, and using fact sheets as well as research sheets that help in a more general sense. In addition, there is also a RecordSearch that you can check out as well as a PhotoSearch that will provide images of more than one hundred and ten thousand photographs contained in the Archives collection. Also, the National Archives of Australia has one reading room in each of Australia’s different capital cities, which makes it easy to learn up about Australian genealogy from different parts of the country.
Filed under: - Australia | australian Genealogy, genealogy, National Archives of Aurstrlia|No Comments
The further back in your family genealogy tree you go, the murkier the picture gets. This is especially true for an American genealogist tracing his or her Irish genealogy. As late as World War II, there was really no reason to stick with the identity you were born with if you were born in Ireland. Unless you were from a rich or powerful family or clan, you discovered fast that your name was not worth a whole lot. And you discovered that one of the best ways to cover up a none-too-shiny past was to change your name where ever you went.
Mass Immigration
Ireland, until recently, has always been a poor nation. When most of Ireland converted to Catholicism, they also eschewed birth control (which was available in herbs that brought on menstruation well before the pill). But Ireland never had enough food to feed all of her millions. When the Great Potato Famine hit in 1845, it was the last straw for most Irish families. There was no work, no food, and no safe place to live. 2.2 million Irish died of starvation alone in five years. Those who lived had no choice but to immigrate.
In one sense, this makes Irish genealogy tree easier in that there are still records of many of the boat registers and records of places like Ellis Island in New York, where the boats landed. Many Irish, however, in order to become more “American” or to escape a blackened past, changed their names on the boat. No proof of ID was needed then – all you had to prove who you were was what came out of your mouth.
Records Meeting
Many studying their Irish genealogies find all information about their ancestors may come to an abrupt halt once the boat left Ireland. When researching in Ireland, they have a hard to nearly impossible time finding any kind of record that their immigrated ancestors were ever born, let alone lived in Ireland.
Then, you need to get creative with your Irish genealogy tree. The immigrants tended to have lively stories of their home towns. Check the towns and then check first names (and often the middle baptized) to find the ancestors’ previous generations. Many name alterations were also very small, even to just spelling Sean in Ireland to Shawn in America.
There are many free Irish genealogy websites you can use for research, which includes lists of cemetery headstones, birth records, execution records and even orphan record listings.
Filed under: Ireland | genealogy, griffiths evaluation, irish genealogy, irish roots|No Comments
« Previous Entries||
