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IRISH ROOTS

IRISH ANCESTRY LINKS

Irish Ancestors on Irish Times
The ireland.com ancestry page of the IrishTimes (link to front page news) newspaper, covering national and international news. Browse their links divided into the following categories:

RootsWeb
RootsWeb is funded and supported by Ancestry.com and a loyal RootsWeb community.

According to Riobard O'Dwyer, Beara genealogist and contributor to RootsWeb, "The Civil Deaths Records didn't start in Ireland until January 1st 1861."
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TIARA The Irish Ancestral Research Association

Irish Roots
From here you can visit the Irish Roots message board. It covers every county in Ireland and it is a free service.

Boston College Information Wanted
"Missing Friends" advertisements in the Boston Pilot from 1831-1921 containing details about the missing person's life, sponsored by Boston College’s Irish Studies Program. This column was what new Irish immigrants used to try to contact each other when they became separated once they got to the U.S. The database contains over 37,000 separate records and is searchable by name. The advertisements contain the ordinary but revealing details about the missing person’s life: the county and parish of their birth, when they left Ireland, the believed port of arrival in North America, their occupation, and a range of other personal information. The site lists more resources for researching Irish ancestry.

Boston College's Research Guide to Irish Genealogy resources for those who are doing Irish genealogical or family history research

irish Genealogical Society International non-profit organization dedicated to assisting members in genealogical research of Irish and Scots-Irish ancestry.

Los Angeles Regional Family History Center
Ireland Research Notebook

General Genealogy Links

Family Search
"The largest collection of free family history, family tree and genealogy records in the world."

Ellis Island The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.; an information and search site.

Castle Garden - America's First Immigration Center, is the immigration area of NYC that predated Ellis Island. The arriving ship manifests may be freely searched. The passenger manifests are also largely available through Ancestry.com, where you need a subscription.
Steven Morse's web site also has ship manifests for Castle Garden.

Castle Garden, today known as Castle Clinton National Monument, is the major landmark within The Battery, the 23 acre waterfront park at the tip of Manhattan. From 1855 to 1890, the Castle was America's first official immigration center, a pioneering collaboration of New York State and New York City. [from Castle Garden.org]

The Boston Pilot was a Catholic newspaper that is not longer published. From October 1831 through October 1921, the Boston Pilot newspaper printed a “Missing Friends” column with advertisements from people looking for “lost” ... The URL is http://infowanted.bc.edu/   - it contains over 37,000
separate records and is searchable by name.

New England Archive Links

New England Ancestors New England Historic Genealogical Society online database of vital records

Massachusetts archives Massachusetts officials started recording the names of immigrants who arrived by ship in January of 1848, a procedure which continued until July of 1891, when federal records-keeping programs superseded those of the state. Although immigrants arrived at numerous Massachusetts ports, the Archives holds manifests for BOSTON ONLY. Over one million immigrants came through the Port of Boston during this time period.

Butte, Montana Links

Many emigrants from the Beara Peninsula settled in Butte, Montana. These would be the men and the families with mining expeience gained from the copper mines in Castletownbere.

more on Butte >>

 


 



Irish flag

The Irish in America

Barack O'Bama's Irish Ancestry

A story in the Limerick Leader tells of the American presidential candidate's Irish roots. "Barack Obama has roots in the small town of Moneygall in Offaly as research by the genealogy website ancestry.co.uk showed that his great great great grandfather was born in Ireland."

A group of singers who call themselves Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys , "A TRIO of brothers from Limerick have recorded a tribute to American Presidential hopeful Barack Obama that addresses the Michigan Senator's Irish ancestry." [Source: Limerick Leader]

The lyrics are below and see YouTube and the hardydrew.com website to view the video.

See also Obama himself on his Irish-ness. (YouTube)

O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama
You don't believe me
I hear you say
But Barack's as Irish
As was JFK
His granddaddyss daddy
Came from Moneygall
A small Irish village
Well known to you all
Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama
There's no one as Irish
As Barack O'Bama
He's as Irish as bacon
And cabbage and stew
He's Hawaiian he's Kenyan
American too
If he succeeds
And he has a chance
I'm sure our Barack
Will do Riverdance
Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama
There's no one as Irish
As Barack O'Bama

 

The Irish in Michigan by Seamus and Eileen MetressSeamus Metress is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at University of Toledo. He has written many books on the subject of the Irish in America, including the following:

  • Irish in Michigan with Eileen Metress
    "Irish immigration to the United States can be divided into five general periods, from 1640 to the present: the colonial, prestarvation, great starvation, post-starvation, and post- independence periods."
  • The Irish- American Experience
  • The American Irish and Irish Nationalism
  • The Irish in North America
  • Outlines in Irish History.

ON BEING IRISH ~ AMERICAN
There is a column in The Irish Emmigrant that I find particularly interesting written by Gary Hetzler called An American in Ireland. Gary moved to Ireland several years ago and hails from The States, actually one particular state, Massachusetts. He writes little stories about his life that I relate to as an Irish-American. He has his opinions and insights. He wrote about the family's trip back home, including "a quick buzz through Marblehead" on their way to Newburyport, both charming towns. All the places he refers to are familiar to me. I find his comments interesting on the differences in the availability of retail items, for instance, and to learn what are considered bargains or specialties of this cournty versus Ireland, such as clothes and golf balls. Of course, you can read the article yourself and find more interesting introspections.

FAMILY REUNIONS

Planning a Family Reunion

Don't go it alone in planning your upcoming family reunion. Get the family involved. Here are some lniks to websites that will help you think through all that needs to be done and how to accomoplish it.

Cranky's "Family Reunion Invitation" search results - sample family reunion invitations and templates for making a family tree.