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How far back have you got back?

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    #32
    RGM
    Registered Users Posts: 484 ✭✭RGM


    P. Breathnach wrote: »
    One half of my ancestry is from the Gaeltacht, and if I go back prior to 1900, most of my people were pretty well monolingual and illiterate. The number of variant spellings that emerged as priests tried to make records in English is astonishing. Placenames also: I collected 27 versions of one townland name, none of which accorded with the official English name.

    It's understandable. Back then, they would be going entirely by ear. Most of the population were Irish speakers and illiterate as you say, so I put it like this - most names did not actually have any spelling at all. They were purely oral, passed down by word-of-mouth for centuries. So there wouldn't have been a rule book for recording them.

    Not sure what you mean by "official" English name there. Even common English names would have variant spellings. I would say the importance of precisely spelling names didn't come about until the 20th century in most places.


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    #33
    P. Breathnach
    Registered Users Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭P. Breathnach


    RGM wrote: »
    ...
    Not sure what you mean by "official" English name there. Even common English names would have variant spellings. I would say the importance of precisely spelling names didn't come about until the 20th century in most places.
    I was commenting on a placename. Placenames got some official status when the Ordnance Survey drew up their first maps.


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    #34
    endacl
    Registered Users Posts: 22,275 ✭✭✭✭endacl


    Free-2-Flow wrote: »
    How far have you got? Im as far back as my 11th Great grandparents in 1520.
    Kent in England

    All 8192 of them, presuming no incest?

    Fair play...


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    #35
    RGM
    Registered Users Posts: 484 ✭✭RGM


    P. Breathnach wrote: »
    I was commenting on a placename. Placenames got some official status when the Ordnance Survey drew up their first maps.

    Ah, ok. Misunderstood.


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    #36
    KildareFan
    Registered Users Posts: 683 ✭✭✭KildareFan


    KildareFan wrote: »
    I've traced back most of my ancestral lines back to the late 1700s to early 1800s. One branch could be dated to the early 1700s in Dublin if I could prove the great great grandfather born in 1813 was the son & grandson of of two individuals with the same name located in Dublin from the early 1700s.... who look like they are related, but I can't find any proof....

    And just a day after I posted that message, a DNA connection has popped up in Ancestry which makes it look like I have the missing link. About four separate DNA links all point to a family which migrated from Wicklow in 1834 and ended up in Canada. Their surname is fairly unusual - and that's the surname of a Wicklow woman who married a Dubliner in Baltinglass, Co Wicklow in 1804. I had a feeling that this couple produced my great great grandfather, born in Rathdrum around 1813, but who spent most of the early part of his life in St Marks Parish in Dublin.... so I'm off on what I hope is not another wild goose chase....


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    #37
    Jellybaby1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,108 ✭✭✭Jellybaby1


    KildareFan wrote: »
    And just a day after I posted that message, a DNA connection has popped up in Ancestry which makes it look like I have the missing link. About four separate DNA links all point to a family which migrated from Wicklow in 1834 and ended up in Canada. Their surname is fairly unusual - and that's the surname of a Wicklow woman who married a Dubliner in Baltinglass, Co Wicklow in 1804. I had a feeling that this couple produced my great great grandfather, born in Rathdrum around 1813, but who spent most of the early part of his life in St Marks Parish in Dublin.... so I'm off on what I hope is not another wild goose chase....

    Now this is a stab in the dark. The Wicklow woman with the unusual name......does it begin with H?


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    #38
    Free-2-Flow
    Registered Users Posts: 442 ✭✭Free-2-Flow


    Jellybaby1 wrote:
    Now this is a stab in the dark. The Wicklow woman with the unusual name......does it begin with H?


    Just say the Surname Haha, I doubt data protection applies here


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    #39
    Jellybaby1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,108 ✭✭✭Jellybaby1


    Free-2-Flow wrote: »
    Just say the Surname Haha, I doubt data protection applies here

    Sorry, reason for subterfuge is that our families are a private bunch and I'm forbidden to publish it.


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    #40
    Free-2-Flow
    Registered Users Posts: 442 ✭✭Free-2-Flow


    Jellybaby1 wrote:
    Sorry, reason for subterfuge is that our families are a private bunch and I'm forbidden to publish it.

    My 10th Great Grandmother has an unusual Surname, Her maiden name was Caycoate, not even a Google search will bring up anything about the Surname


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    #41
    Hermy
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 11,360 Mod ✭✭✭✭Hermy


    When this question was asked in a previous thread four years back, pinky mentioned completeness.

    Back then I had identified 24 of my 32 g-g-g-grandparents but that figure has now increased to 29 so only 3 to go.

    Since then I have also opened up a possible avenue back to the year 1600 in Co. Meath on my mothers maternal line but while the ancestor is not in doubt the path back to him remains incomplete.

    As I am adopted I also have a second area of research to establish my blood relatives and while I still know nothing about my fathers identity I now know all 8 of my maternal g-g-grandparents.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



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