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Irish Family research - which site to use/join

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  • Irish Family research - which site to use/join

    With being unable to go to Ireland to undertake research I'm wondering which genealogy site has the best records for Irish research pre 1922. Potted history of my Irish ancestry. Gt Grandmother (Sarah Mildred Gailey) was from Letterkenny/Tullygay in Co Donegal - 3 siblings all died unmarried so we are the only descendants left from this line - and there has been no contact with the Irish side of the family since the 1910s - as my grandfather returned to England in 1912 and his father died in 1918. What I wish to embark on now is trying to find cousins from 2xgt grandfather/mother's siblings - who came from Co Donegal - but first I have to find any siblings. I already have worldwide Ancestry but my FMP has recently expired so I was wondering if anybody has suggestions for Irish records. I'm not keen on the Irish Family history site since they were hacked a few years ago and people's details were half inched. All suggestions gratefully received.
    Bo

    At present: Marshall, Smith, Harding, Whitford, Lane (in and around Winchcomb).

  • #2
    I assume this is the family you are interested in:



    If so, they are Presbyterian. There are 4 Presbyterian churches in that immediate area, Letterkenny 1st, 2nd & 3rd, as well as Trenta. Do you know which your family attended? The earliest records start in 1821.

    Rootsireland/IFHF is the only site to have any of those records on-line. They have Trenta and I think Letterkenny 1st. Not sure about 2nd and 3rd. If you don’t want to use them, then your only alternative is really a trip to Belfast to PRONI (the public record office) as they have copies of all of those churches records. Or employ a researcher.

    Your Daniel was born c 1873. His father seems to have been Andrew born c 1830. Andrew’s marriage certificate should have his father’s name. Griffiths Valuation for 1858 has a Daniel Gailey farming in Tullygay (on plot 11) so my guess is that was Andrew’s father.

    Daniel Gailey is also listed in Tullygay in the tithe applotment records for 1834.

    There’s a death for a Daniel Gailey registered in Letterkenny in 1865 aged 70. That might be Daniel snr.

    PRONI have the wills for Andrew (died 11.4.1902) and Daniel jr (died 20.5.1955) but perhaps you already have those.

    There’s a Chris Gailey and an Andrew Gailey in the Irish phone book. Both live in Rathmullan (different addresses). They are the only Gaileys listed in the county today. You might want to contact them to see if there is any connection. (Though they may not know).
    Last edited by Elwyn; 26-05-15, 20:06.
    Elwyn

    I am based in Co. Antrim and undertake research in Northern Ireland. Please feel free to contact me for help or advice via PM.

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    • #3
      I would add: RootsIreland has transcribed records online. I haven't encountered any scanned records there.

      familysearch has some transcribed CivilReg records - marriages and births into the early 1870s. No death certs.

      familysearch and FMP both have transcribed Registration indexes - and it's easy on FS to confuse which are the transcribed records vs transcribed reg. index.

      there's an online system for retrieving Irish CivReg records...I haven't used it (but I need to!)

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      • #4
        Don't forget www.Rootsweb.com where you can put messages on the Irish county forums and people are very helpful.
        Last edited by JBee; 27-05-15, 17:49.



        Researching Irish families: FARMER, McBRIDE McQUADE, McQUAID, KIRK, SANDS/SANAHAN (Cork), BARR,

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        • #5
          Many thanks everybody for your help and suggestions - yes Elwyn you've hit the family squarely on the head. I have Daniel jnrs will from 1955 - he left everything in trust to his sister Agnes for her life and then after her death everything to his named farm hand. His nephew (my Grandfather) aged 55 probably didn't even know Daniel existed and vice versa. I guessed (I know slapped wrist) at Andrew's father being Daniel from the naming conventions used - I have a friend visiting Ireland next week and he is getting the 2nd marriage cert of Andrew for me. Sadly I don't know which Letterkenny church they belonged to. Only 2 Gaileys left in the County - that feels sad I don't know why.
          Bo

          At present: Marshall, Smith, Harding, Whitford, Lane (in and around Winchcomb).

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Bo the Bodger View Post
            Only 2 Gaileys left in the County - that feels sad I don't know why.
            Emigration from Ireland didn’t stop in the 1800s. There’s not a lot of employment opportunities in Co Donegal. (One of the underlying issues for Ireland has always been a lack of natural resources and so the industrial revolution largely passed it by, especially in remoter counties like Donegal). With a growing population, people were forced to emigrate for employment. It hasn’t changed that much to this day. The majority of young people still leave to go to Dublin, London, New York or wherever, and consequently only the older generations remain and some families eventually fizzle out.
            Elwyn

            I am based in Co. Antrim and undertake research in Northern Ireland. Please feel free to contact me for help or advice via PM.

            Comment


            • #7
              If one takes out a membership on ancestry.co.uk does that include Northern Ireland (it should). I read something today and not sure where I read it but it would appear the republic of ireland records are not included (which is logical ......... I suppose) but a money making excercise for ancestry. I ask this because I am reluctantly considering taking out a 6 month membership later on in the year and am well aware that things have changed a lot since I last had a membership - there is some pretty odd, completely untrue, stuff on my (is it still mine) Tree now!

              Comment


              • #8
                Sue,

                If you go to the Ancestry site, you can check to see what each set of their Irish records contains (ie dates, exclusions etc). There’s a box that says “what this set of records contains”. But to answer your question in a wider context they don’t have all Irish records. Nowhere near it. Neither for the north nor for the south. There are massive gaps. They don’t have any statutory records for Northern Ireland from 1.1.1922 onwards, whereas the equivalent records for the Republic of Ireland go up to 1958. You have to go to GRONI for the post 1921 Northern Ireland records and to GRO Roscommon for the post 1858 Irish records. And so on.

                Anyone who thinks that all genealogical records are on-line these days is seriously mistaken. There are truckloads that remain in paper format, held by an individual church or statutory body and which require personal visits to NAS in Kew, NAS in Dublin, PRONI in Belfast or myriad other locations.

                No one on-line site will give you access to all Irish records. You need to use a collection of different sites and then supplement that with personal visits to other repositories.
                Last edited by Elwyn; 07-07-16, 20:23.
                Elwyn

                I am based in Co. Antrim and undertake research in Northern Ireland. Please feel free to contact me for help or advice via PM.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Oh Dear! Thanks Elwyn. I always knew this would be a difficult search because I don't know the area well enough (despite many years ago visiting Tyrone - my first ever visit to Ireland - I think I was 19 - was with a friend I worked with in London). I was never able to work out whether I stayed in the townland of Edergole or a farm called Edergole but whatever it was it was lovely (learned to milk a cow and drive a tractor!) I never dreamed that many years later I would be wanting to research folk not too far away from there!
                  I have recently had a good bit of information sent to me from USA by a McQuaid - I am completely bewildered by it ..............I have found out that Francis Cassidy 1847's father was Patrick and Patrick's father was Thomas. I understand the Cassidy's from Makenny were buried in Magheralough but have found quite a few more buried at Ardboe (which I get the impression is an ?old monastary) - they may, of course, not be related to my Cassidys. I now also have the Tithe Records for Kilskeery, Tyrone for 1826 and Thomas Cassidy & Son are living at Makenny: James McQuaid is living at Drumbinnionn (haven't a clue who he is but probably related to Francis Cassidy's wife) and also in Makennny is an O. McQuaid.
                  Truly amazing that, since it is my husband's family, he had never heard of them - any of them. Suspect that his G/father walked away from his family having broken the mould and gone into tailoring and the drapery business - one brother used to visit from time to time but no one else. In my husband's case his own father died when he was 6 and he hardly remembers him (another Francis) and the family then leaned towards the maternal side. Few of the cousins had met. There are loads of cousins of the same generation as my husband - most of them never knew each other although some may have heard of each other and they certainly didn't all know they had living relations in Co. Tyrone. I suppose, if nothing else, researching the family has brought them together a little - one cousin who came to the reunion my husband had never heard of - he just didn't know he existed. He is, or was, a newsreader.

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                  • #10
                    I have to admit I find the TNA Kew website "difficult" so I don't know exactly what their Irish holdings are - will have another good look at it because I can get to Kew from here but it probably would require an overnight stay.

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                    • #11
                      And please don't forget the two complete Irish Census records for 1901 and 1911

                      They do show county of bitrh and religion
                      Geoff

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                      • #12
                        Also try here https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk/ for Northern Ireland BMD certificate information - all the records are put up as images to be purchased so no need to buy certificates.

                        No need to go to PRNONI for BMD stuff nowadays.

                        Margaret

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                        • #13
                          Hi Margaret, I did recently look into this - I understand that if you use Firefox (which I do) you may have a bit of a problem - not entirely sure what the problem is/was!
                          However, someone else is researching the person I was looking for and I had told her I would send her a copy - to my delight, she had already got the death cert/entry so I didn't need to do anything which is just as well because I am not at all sure that my screen shot button works! (If I am honest I actually haven't a clue how to use the screen shot facility!)

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Sue1 View Post
                            Hi Margaret, I did recently look into this - I understand that if you use Firefox (which I do) you may have a bit of a problem - not entirely sure what the problem is/was!
                            However, someone else is researching the person I was looking for and I had told her I would send her a copy - to my delight, she had already got the death cert/entry so I didn't need to do anything which is just as well because I am not at all sure that my screen shot button works! (If I am honest I actually haven't a clue how to use the screen shot facility!)
                            If you have Windows you should have the Snipping tool under Accessories. When you click this open you can draw a box around whatever you want to copy and you get a jpeg image of the contents of the box! Simply save that to wherever you want and you're done.

                            Screen shot buttons don't often work unless you have a programme that enables it.

                            I think also PRONI have probably made it so you can't do screen shots as such as they do say it is prohibited! but the snipping tool works.
                            Margaret
                            Last edited by margaretmarch; 13-07-16, 17:29.

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