Where to start?

Neesie123

Hi all,

I'm trying to trace my mums half brother, I've got very little info at the moment.

All I know is that he was born between 1937 and 1942 in either waterford or tipperary. my mum remembers he came to stay with them once as a child from artane ind school and was told at the time that he was her uncle. they tried to track him down years ago and somehow found out that he was in the salvation army.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to find birth records and possibly info on how to track from artane

Thanks in advance

Neesie

Dun

The Family Search site has the indexes to births up until 1958 for the 26 counties. It's listed by registration district, not county, so you'll need to know which registration districts he is most likely to have been born in. Also, if he doesn't have a particularly common name, it helps, otherwise you might come up with a lot of hits.

Note that it only gives his name, the year, 3 month period when he was likely born in that year, and registration district - it will not list parents or their address, father's occupation, though it may list mother's maiden name.

pinkypinky

Hi Neesie,

Have a look at our stickie at the top of the forum. That has all the details you need.

Pinky

Neesie123

Thanks Dun and Pinky. I've tried the links on the sticky, but not having much luck.

Do you know if there's a way to track through Artane?

I tried the Census 1911 for my grandmothers family details but cant even find anything on them... not having much luck so far

Neesie123

Here's the info that I have:

My nan was born either 1922 or 1923, in Rathgormack, Co Waterford, her name was Mary McGrath
My uncle, the man that I'm trying to track down, was born probably around 1939, my nan married my grandfather soon after I'm told.

He came to stay with my mam and her family one summer, from Artane Industrial School, at probably the age of around 11 or 12, and they were told that he was my nan's brother, Johnny McGrath.... which my mam found strange, as she already had an uncle called Johnny McGrath.

He stayed for about a week with them, and after that they never heard anything about him.

My nan died in 2000, and my mam tried to track Johnny down, she had very little to go on, but somehow, someone told her that he had joined the Salvation army, from there we have a blank.

I've checked the Family Search index, but I keep getting an error message, and then result comes back that no match made. I've also tried the other links on the sticky at top of forum..... maybe I'm doing it wrong...if thats possible!

Any help appreciated

Neesie

tyview

Hi Nessie123

Have you contacted barnardos? I know they can help with tracing,
Dublin

A: Barnardos, Hyde Square, 654 Sth. Circular Rd. Dublin 8
T: 01 453 0355 (for residents abroad, please call +353 1 453 0355)
E: origins@barnardos.ie

Theres more info on their website
http://www.barnardos.ie/what-we-do/specialist-services/origins-tracing-service.html

Other than that, I would suggest a trip to the research room to locate his birth cert and then see if theres a marriage record for him which would give you an address to start with.
Hope you find him and best of luck!

mattjack

Hi neesie...Artane Industrial School is now St Davids ,I dont know if they keep records of residents, maybe they might...but nearby is the Artane Boys Band Hall and members of the band went into the Army Bands..maybe the Defence Forces may have records of your relative...
I had a family friend who served in the Army Number One Band and through him I met a number of these soldiers...a lot of them if they had no family as such to speak off and if they never married lived in Army accomodation and some served for well in excess of twenty and even thirty years .
As far as know the Army number one band is still based in Cathal Brugha barracks in Rathmines
good luck in your search.

P. Breathnach

A little bit of Googling suggest to me that tyview's recommendation of Barnardo's is very good advice. It seems they have, or have access to, the records of Artane Industrial School. I would not expect the secondary school now on the site to have any sort of continuity with the industrial school (despite its also being a Christian Brothers' institution).

Don't get your hopes up too high. If Barnardo's have the information, they might be constrained from sharing it with you.

mattjack

good info from P.BREATHANACH..there is a group called the "origins team" in Baranados who are allowed access to records of people who were residents in industrial schools..all the records are the property of the dept. of education.but they seem to give out information only to persons who was actually resident themselves.

Neesie123

Thanks for the replies. I've emailed the origins team to see if they can help at all, will keep searching

Neesie123

Just updating everyone, I got a call yesterday from a lovely guy called Tony, who's with Artane Senior Boys Band.

He told me that they wouldn't have information on past pupils, but told me that the Catholic Brothers Province, based in Griffiths Place in Dublin, would have these details and may help me out.

He said that they get a few requests weekly, and always send people in the direction of the CBP, and have heard back from some of the people saying that they got information from the CBP.

CBP's contact details are:

Christian Brothers, European Province Centre, Griffith Avenue, Marino, Dublin 9. Tel. 8073300. Fax. 8073350 Email: cbprov@edmundrice.eu

I've emailed them, so fingers crossed they can help.

Havent heard back from Barnardos yet, but still hopeful

Neesie

Mirrat

Hi Nessie123
I know it was some time ago that you posted on here, but I was wondering if you ever heard anything from the Christian Brothers re your relation. I was also given their address by Barnados to try and find out if my Grandfather was at the boys school but have never had a reply. Just wondered if it was worth sending an email to try again or if they just don't reply to relations only to the boys who had actually been there. My Grandfather died in 1959 and it was only recently that one cousin mentioned that he had been at the Artane Boys School. To be honest I was born and brought up in England and it meant nothing to me, but having had it explained I would love to find out more information. My Grandfather was the only one of my grandparents I ever met as the others had already died when I was born and I would love to find out more about all of them.