I'm an Irish guy working as a genealogist in the U.S.

Coolnabacky1873

Hi all,

I've been following the forum for a while and just wanted to introduce myself. I'm originally from Kilkenny but live in New York City and work as a pro genealogist (a small business I set up myself).

I'm not posting this to solicit for clients, just to contribute to the discussion and topics and offer advice if people have any U.S. genealogy questions.

I have seen a few posts over the months and years about genealogy as a career and young (under 50!) people being interested in genealogy also etc..

I mostly work with Irish Americans looking to trace back to the aul' sod and give talks in the NYC area on different topics.

Regards,

Coolnabacky

Ponster

Any money in it ?

Coolnabacky1873

I work at it part time and it wouldn't be my main income but it's modest enough. Coming to the end of year two and there should be a $7k profit for 2011.

There are people who do if full time and do well. The very top pro's in the industry fly all over the U.S. giving talks and are on TV on the US version of WDYTYA.

Other more established genealogists in the NYC area, who have a different clientele than me, are able to charge over $100 per hour and make $20k part time and $40k+ full time per year.

patsman07

Hi Coolnabacky,

I was wondering have you any tips for following ancestors after their emigration from Ireland to America.
I have a Great-grand uncle who went through Ellis island in 1904 but I can't trace him after that.
Also where is my best bet for finding someone who went to America after Ellis island closed but before WW2?


Thanks,
Patsman

Coolnabacky1873

The best place to start would be the U.S. Federal census. It has been conducted every 10 years since 1790 and is publically available up to 1930 (1940 is being made available to the public next April - 72 year privacy law).

If you have access to ancestry.com($) that is the best place to start, familysearch.org is also indexing various censuses.

If he came through Ellis island (only opened in 1892, all immigration before that was through Castle Garden) he might have been in NYC for a bit so city directories are also good. Fold3.com($) has them and you can probably get them on LSD microfilms.

If you can find a post 1892 passenger list there is a good chace if will list his final town of destination, almost definitely if he came over after 1900.

After that it all depends on what state he went too. They all have their BMD's, wills, directories etc..

Hope that helps to start with.

pinkypinky

Hi

Thanks for joining the debate!
I don't have any special knowledge for America: it's something I hope to build up over time.

I saw a job yesterday for a 6 months full-time genealogy contract, good money but in Galway. I'm in Dublin and moving across the country is not an option right now. I can't see myself going into it full-time but who knows - I'd love to.

Pinky

Coolnabacky1873

Hi Pinky,

Yourself and Shanew have been providing some quality help on here, ye know Irish genealogy for sure!

Interesting about the Galway gig, I saw one come up in Limerick earlier this year, think it was for maternity leave cover with the local IFHF group. Could you send me on a link for it? Thanks.

pinkypinky

Thanks!

Here's the link.
http://www.library.ie/2011/11/29/vacancy-%E2%80%93-genealogist-ireland-reaching-outireland-xo-project/

christmas2010

Hi Coolnabacky. I've done a lot of research on my family.
There are two American documents that I would like to get. One is a birth cert for my Dad who was born in New York in 1916, the other is a marriage cert for his parents who married in New York around 1912.
The family moved back to Ireland in the 1920s. I can't seem to find any satisfactory way to get these certs online. Can you advise. I'd especially like to find the marriage cert.
I have an ancestry.com subscription, that has turned up emmigration records and the 1920 census but no marriage or birth records.
Thank you

Coolnabacky1873

Hi xmas,

Yeah one of Ancestry's weak areas is BMD's, but here is what you can do.

Firstly, there is an important distinction between New York City and New York State. Records for the five boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island) are here in the city. Records for anywhere else in the state are at the State Archives up in Albany, the state capital.

The Italian and German genealogy groups here in NYC have indexed millions of BMD's for NYC. You can search here for the 1912 marriage
http://italiangen.org/VRECLIST.stm.
They are all at the Municipal Archives at 31 Chambers St and if you find the relevant entry in the above link then you can get the application forms for certs here
http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/vitalrecords/home.shtml

That was the easy bit, now the trickier one, the 1916 birth.
Any birth certs for NYC after 1909 are at the Department of Health and they are much harder to deal with. You have to prove descent from the person and there are are all sorts of privacy issues to deal with. The nyc.gov link has the link to the DoH site.

And just to make it harder, the Catholic Irish were notorious for not registering BMD's with the city officials before 1920. They did everything through the Catholic Church.

christmas2010

That's fantastic thank you. I had nearly given up on finding that marriage record but there it was in April 1913 in Manhattan.
Did lots of searching but never came across that database before.

AD61

Hi Coolnabacky (and any other professional & semi-professional genealogists out there!)

How do you find clients for your services? In general what do they ask you to do for them? Genealogy in general or just tracing an Irish ancestor?

Thanks!

Coolnabacky1873

AD61 wrote: »

Hi Coolnabacky (and any other professional & semi-professional genealogists out there!)

How do you find clients for your services? In general what do they ask you to do for them? Genealogy in general or just tracing an Irish ancestor?

Thanks!

Hi there,

For me it has been mostly through my website and then a few referrals when my name became known. Nearly all of my clients so far have been outside of New York state.
All of them had done a lot of research so far and used my services to try and get through a brick wall or because they lived far from NYC and needed an on the ground researcher.
They all have the objective of getting back to Ireland, with those who qualify wanting to apply for citizenship.
I've also worked hard at establishing myself locally. Joining groups, giving lectures, networking with other pro's, putting up flyers, visiting the many Irish cultural/social gropus here in the city etc..
Being from Ireland has been advantageous as you know the local scene, what a townland is, what a county council is etc..
Even having 'the brogue' helps!

Just like any small business you need to find a niche that will set you apart so the clients will come to you.