Family History

mcarey7

Hi, not too sure where I should post this thread but I figured history falls under humanities so I could start here.

I'm looking for some advice to trace my family tree, I'm mostly interested in tracing my father's side but I have limited information to go on. I have my own grandparents names, dates of birth and marriage date, but this is all post 1911. I would love to trace back using the census information, but I have limited information on anyone who would be alive in 1911. I have my father's paternal grandparents names but as far as I can tell they were not married in 1911. I have a possible area name but it does not seem to appear on the census and therefore must fall under a different townland name.

If I had copies of my grandparents birth certificates it may give me a clearer idea of areas names etc, but I was hoping to search for free. Does anyone have any ideas how I can expand my search without having to pay? or does the website 'findmypast.ie' work? Is it worth spending money for the subscription, could I view the birth, death, marriage certs if I used that site?

Any help greatly appreciated!

Waitsian

The very first thing you should do is read the 'sticky' threads at the top of the Genealogy forum.

pinkypinky

Please do read the stickys before spending any money.

Findmypast does have indexes for births, deaths and marriages but they are also available free on familysearch. You will need to purchase some certificates to progress your search.

Hermy

As pinky and mod have said do read the sticky's.

Also have a look at Claire Santry's Genealogy Toolkit.

When you need them research certs will cost €4 each but there are plenty of free sources online and elsewhere such as local libraries.

And Ancestry and Find My Past both offer a free two week trial.

CassieManson

Hermy wrote: »

As pinky and mod have said do read the sticky's.

Also have a look at Claire Santry's Genealogy Toolkit.

When you need them research certs will cost €4 each but there are plenty of free sources online and elsewhere such as local libraries.

And Ancestry and Find My Past both offer a free two week trial.

And the National Library in Kildare St has free access to both Ancestry and FindMyPast. (For Dublin based folk!)

Hermy

CassieManson wrote: »

And the National Library in Kildare St has free access to both Ancestry and FindMyPast. (For Dublin based folk!)

And Pearse Street Library for Thom's Directory's, RIC records and access to newspaper archives. Ah, to be back in Dublin...:P

Waitsian

CassieManson wrote: »

And the National Library in Kildare St has free access to both Ancestry and FindMyPast. (For Dublin based folk!)

I'm not sure about other provincial libraries but Ancestry is definitely free in Newry library so it's worth checking other local libraries round the island, north or south.

mcarey7

Thanks for all suggestions, did not realise there was a genealogy forum...I thought I had looked!

vickymkenny

Hello,
My name is Vicky Kenny, and I recently found out the name of my grandfather after pestering my dad for a long time. I'm 19 so I think that he may still be alive and I really want to make contact before it's too late. I have tried all of the ancestry sites that I can. He was from Dublin at the time but that was over 50 years ago, so I have no idea where he could be. If anybody has gone through something similar I would really like to know how you found the person you were looking for.
Thanks in advance

Hermy

Hi Vicky,

Welcome to Boards.

Firstly, just to say it's usually better to start a new thread rather than post your query in another unrelated one.

Having said that, the first thing you should do is get a copy of your fathers birth cert from the GRO either online or by visiting the research room in Dublin. It will cost €4 and should have his father and mothers (your paternal grandparents) names on it. That should help you find a copy of your grandfathers marriage cert and the addresses contained on both certs should give you an idea of where he lived at that time.
After that, if he was living in Dublin, Thom's Directory's may help you to trace his whereabouts from year to year. There are sets of these directories in Pearse Street and Tallaght Library's and in the National Library as well which you can search for free.
If you can give any more details about dates and places we might be ble to make a few more suggestions about where to look but hopefully the above will get you search underway.

vickymkenny

Hermy wrote: »

Hi Vicky,

Welcome to Boards.

Firstly, just to say it's usually better to start a new thread rather than post your query in another unrelated one.

Having said that, the first thing you should do is get a copy of your fathers birth cert from the GRO either online or by visiting the research room in Dublin. It will cost €4 and should have his father and mothers (your paternal grandparents) names on it. That should help you find a copy of your grandfathers marriage cert and the addresses contained on both certs should give you an idea of where he lived at that time.
After that, if he was living in Dublin, Thom's Directory's may help you to trace his whereabouts from year to year. There are sets of these directories in Pearse Street and Tallaght Library's and in the National Library as well which you can search for free.
If you can give any more details about dates and places we might be ble to make a few more suggestions about where to look but hopefully the above will get you search underway.

Thanks , But his name is not on the Birth Certificate, I don't even think he knows that he has a son. so I don't know where to go from here.

L1011

If all you have is a (common) name and a (big) city its really a needle in a haystack job.

The less common the surname and the more specific the area you have the better chance you have. Without giving away anything you want to keep private, could you let us know what level of difficulty we have?

"Murphy" + "Dublin" + a guessed age and you've no chance, "Ffrench-Smythe-Wilkinson*" and a street name and you'll probably get it

Basically you want to look on familysearch.org for births for his name in the area you think he's from with the birth year you think he'd be - I presume he'd have been the same age as your grandmother roughly unless you've been told otherwise so go maybe +/-3 years from that.

pinkypinky

Are you sure his name is not on the birth cert, i.e. have you seen it? If not, get it to check. Also, check where your father was baptised and then see if you can get access to the parish records (assuming this is relatively recent, you'll need to send a polite email/letter explaining your reasons and asking if they might be able to check it for you). A nosey priest may have noted something down.

Spanish Eyes

Hermy wrote: »

As pinky and mod have said do read the sticky's.

Also have a look at Claire Santry's Genealogy Toolkit.

When you need them research certs will cost €4 each but there are plenty of free sources online and elsewhere such as local libraries.

And Ancestry and Find My Past both offer a free two week trial.

Hi, It might be €4 in person applications, but its €20 online go get the actual certificate. As I discovered by accessing GRO, then being linked to DSP, then linked to HSE!

If anyone knows a cheaper way to get the actual cert online, I'd love to know!!

http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/1/bdm/Certificates/

L1011

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Hi, It might be €4 in person applications, but its €20 online go get the actual certificate. As I discovered by accessing GRO, then being linked to DSP, then linked to HSE!

If anyone knows a cheaper way to get the actual cert online, I'd love to know!!

http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/1/bdm/Certificates/

An actual cert for legal purposes always costs that much.

You can get genealogy certs by email/credit card from the GRO in Roscommon. These are of no use for any legal use.

Spanish Eyes

MYOB wrote: »

An actual cert for legal purposes always costs that much.

You can get genealogy certs by email/credit card from the GRO in Roscommon. These are of no use for any legal use.

Ah, thanks so much!

When I searched "GRO", the HSE was the only option that was given.

Roscommon is only given in the "contact us" , and there is no mention, as far as I can see, of the option of applying for a non legal cert via Roscommon.

Even searching under GRO Roscommon directed me right back to the above again!

Thanks so much for the tip.

pinkypinky

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Ah, thanks so much!

When I searched "GRO", the HSE was the only option that was given.

Roscommon is only given in the "contact us" , and there is no mention, as far as I can see, of the option of applying for a non legal cert via Roscommon.

Even searching under GRO Roscommon directed me right back to the above again!

Thanks so much for the tip.

You still have to fax or post your order to Roscommon, just to be clear, but they will email the cert back to you.

vickymkenny

MYOB wrote: »

If all you have is a (common) name and a (big) city its really a needle in a haystack job.

The less common the surname and the more specific the area you have the better chance you have. Without giving away anything you want to keep private, could you let us know what level of difficulty we have?

"Murphy" + "Dublin" + a guessed age and you've no chance, "Ffrench-Smythe-Wilkinson*" and a street name and you'll probably get it

Basically you want to look on familysearch.org for births for his name in the area you think he's from with the birth year you think he'd be - I presume he'd have been the same age as your grandmother roughly unless you've been told otherwise so go maybe +/-3 years from that.

His name is Damien Harris as far as I know and he was from Dublin, but that was 52 years ago and he was in cork with the navy. That's all I know.

vickymkenny

pinkypinky wrote:

Are you sure his name is not on the birth cert, i.e. have you seen it? If not, get it to check. Also, check where your father was baptised and then see if you can get access to the parish records (assuming this is relatively recent, you'll need to send a polite email/letter explaining your reasons and asking if they might be able to check it for you). A nosey priest may have noted something down.

no name on the birth cert. I don't think he even knows he had a son.

vickymkenny

eviltwin wrote:

Have you checked the electoral register?

where is that? is it online?

pinkypinky

www.checktheregister.ie

You'll have to go county by county, afaik.

L1011

pinkypinky wrote: »

www.checktheregister.ie

You'll have to go county by county, afaik.

Townland by townland I believe...