How to Find Your Irish Ancestors

Episode 18 Video and Show Notes

Live show air date: July 23, 2020
Join me for Elevenses with Lisa, the online video series where we take a break, visit and learn about genealogy and family history.

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An Irish Genealogy Brick Wall

This week I’m taking you on a bit of my own genealogical journey. It’s that one line of my family that crosses the pond to Ireland with my 2X great grandparents. I first learned about Michael Lynch and Margaret Scully as a child from my maternal grandmother. They were her husband’s (my grandfather’s) grandparents. She didn’t know much about them.

Margaret Scully of Limerick Ireland

Margaret Scully born in Limerick Ireland 1840

 

Michael Lynch

Michael Lynch born in Ireland in 1818

In 2000 I got an opportunity to sit down with my grandfather’s sister – the historian of that generation of the family – and ask her about them. She was nearly 90 years old at the time, and she told me the family lore that Margaret was supposedly from a more well-to-do family, and Michael was not.

Aunt Bea in 1937

Aunt Bea in 1937

“He was a groom. And they eloped. I don’t know where they came in. I don’t know which port, but I think it was Canada.”

A few years later after Aunt Bea’s passing I got in touch with some distant Lynch cousins through a bit of online genealogical research. They were descended from Ellen’s siblings who had stayed in the area where the Lynch family had lived (Western Wisconsin and Eastern Minnesota).

These distant cousins supplied with a few more pieces of the puzzle.

  • They mentioned Kildysart, though my notes are unclear whether that was the possible location for Michael or Margaret.
  • There had some sketchy parents’ names through family lore and Margaret’s death certificate.
  • Margaret’s parents were supposedly James Lynch and Bridget Madigan.
  • Michael’s were possibly Michael Lynch and Johanna Healy but no evidence was provided.

I searched extensively several years ago but was unable to find a passenger list record. I did find the family in East Farmington, Wisconsin. where Michael purchased land and ran a dairy farm.

East Farmington Wisconsin History postcard

East Farmington Wisconsin postcard

My research questions were:
Who were the parents of Margaret Scully born in Limerick Ireland on approximately July 9, 1840? Where in Ireland was she born?

My Aunt Bea said Margaret was from county Cork. This was based on her conversations with her mother Ellen. However, Ellen left Wisconsin as a young woman and lived her adult live in California, far from her family.

The Wisconsin cousins were sure Margaret was from Limerick. They believed Michael was from Cork. Considering that their parents had known Margaret well, I put more stock in their information.

Then the cousins produced Margaret’s obituary from Fargo ND where she died a widow living with her son John in 1929. I clearly stated she was born in Limerick. I became even more confident that Limerick was the place to focus.

A secondary question which would be a bonus was ‘where were Michael and Margaret married?’ Was it true that they had eloped in Ireland and came to America via Canada as my aunt had said? And did any of her brothers and sisters come to America as well?

I’m not an expert in Irish genealogy. I have interviewed a few experts over the years, so you might think I would have jumped right into this Irish research. Instead, I found it a bit daunting.

So, earlier this month, I sat down for a 45 minute consultation with Kate Eakman. She’s a professional genealogist with Legacy Tree Genealogists specializing in Irish research among other areas.

Kate Eakman, professional genealogist

My consultant: Professional Genealogists Kate Eakman

These 45-minute consultations are designed to evaluate what you have, and kick start or restart your research.

As a seasoned genealogist, I want to do the research myself. This short focused consultation was perfect for helping me move forward with confidence.

Before we discuss the path we followed in the consultation, let’s talk a moment about how to prepare for a genealogical consultation.

Preparing for a Consultation with a Professional Genealogist

There are three things you can do ahead of time to help a professional genealogist help you.

1. Be clear what you want to accomplish.

It’s only 45 minutes, so one clearly defined research question is best. Avoid “I just want to find whatever is available”. It needs to be a specific question.

I wanted to specifically find out who Margaret’s parents were which I expected would also tell me where she was born.

2. Gather what you already have in advance.

I didn’t have much, but I made every effort to distill the known facts down in a list. I then added all source information I had for those items.

To get the most from a consultation it is important to not only share what you have but the strength of the source. Many of my sources were family lore. These rank low on reliability. The death certificate my cousin sent me ranked higher.

Remember time is limited and costs money, so don’t bog the genealogist down with EVERYTHING you have. Focus on the items that a relevant to the question.  

3. Briefly jot down what you’ve done so far.

You may have tried research avenues that were fruitless in the past. You definitely don’t want to spend precious time in the consultation going back over those. Making a list of what you did, and the outcome clears the way for your consultation time to be spent on new strategies.

A Consultation with a Professional Genealogist

My consultation in this episode of Elevenses with Lisa is focused on Irish research. You will see us using many of the most valuable online resources available.

But if you don’t have Irish ancestors, I encourage you to listen carefully to the process. The questions she asks, and her approach to finding answers. You may be pleasantly surprised to hear some things that can translate to your research process.

Irish Genealogy Websites

Searching at RootsIreland.ie ($)
https://www.rootsireland.ie

They have:

  • Baptisms
  • Marriage
  • Burial / Death
  • Census
  • Gravestone Inscriptions
  • Griffith’s Valuation
  • Irish Ship Passenger Lists
  • Census Substitutes

Strategies:

  • Search by name and birth year (+/- 5 years)
  • Narrow by county
  • The records will list the parents.

Online Research Tip: Right-click on each results to open in a new tab.

More Strategies:

  • If no results, revise your search to go broader.
  • Look at sponsor names as well.
  • Use maps to see where places are located and their relationship to each other.

Griffith’s Valuation at Ask About Ireland
http://www.askaboutireland.ie

(Free)

Click Griffith’s Valuation or go directly to http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

From the website: “The Primary Valuation was the first full-scale valuation of property in Ireland. It was overseen by Richard Griffith and published between 1847 and 1864. It is one of the most important surviving 19th century genealogical sources.”

The value of family stories

“These family stories always have some kernel of truth to them, even if they seem outlandish. There’s something that’s true. Her parents were wealthy, or he was a groom, even if it wasn’t this falling in love with a groom and running away and getting married.” – Kate Eakman

More Strategies

  1. Spend some time looking for children of the suspected parents (James Scully and Bridget Madigan)
  2. Children may have been baptized as “girl” or “infant.” Look for these while searching.

National Library of Ireland (NLI) Parish Registers
https://registers.nli.ie
(Free)

After finding the parents James Scully and Bridget Madigan, the next step was to look for parish registers at the National Library of Ireland.  Search parish registers by clicking on Family History Research > Visit Catholic Parish Records. They are not indexed by name. You have to know who you’re looking for and where. But if you have an idea of the parish, you can enter that. Choose Baptism and the year and month in known. 

If you are not sure about the name of the location, search for it at the NLI to see if their system recognizes it or suggests a slightly different spelling.

We then headed back to RootsIreland.ie to look for marriage records. 

IrishGenealogy.ie
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/

(Free)

Click Civil Records

From the website: “All civil marriage records from 1845 to 1944 are now available online to members of the public, along with the release online of birth register records for 1919 and death register records for 1969.  Over 15.5 million register records are now available to the public to view and research online on the www.irishgenealogy.ie website. The records now available online include:  Birth register records – 1864 to 1919; Marriage register records – 1845 to 1944 &  Death register records – 1878 to 1969.”

  • Kate likes to sort results by date.
  • First and last name won’t always be together in the results.

Searching for Records in North America

Kate and I dug for and discussed U.S. records that might lend more information that could help with the search in Ireland such as:

  • Marriage Records
  • Passenger Lists
  • Military Records
  • Documents relating to his work as a civil servant

Researching forward (known as Reverse Genealogy) could lead to collaboration with more cousins and the discover of letters or other helpful items.

Canadian Passenger Lists at the Library and Archives Canada

Action Items for My Irish Genealogy Research

My consultation with a professional genealogist specializing in Irish research left me newly found records and the confidence to continue exploring Irish records. I also had in hand a list of steps I could take to move forward:

  • Compile a list of all of James and Bridget Scully’s children.
  • Find birth, marriages and deaths for the children.
  • Look for siblings in America (start with Farmington, Wisconsin area)
  • Research the sponsors of the baptisms
  • Conduct a browsing search of the Parish Records for a baptism that lines up with Margaret Scully’s known birth.

More Irish Genealogy Websites

Irish Ancestors by John Grenham
https://www.johngrenham.com
(Free)

Check this web site to confirm what’s available before you start searching more in Ireland. I searched for Kildysart and found it here!

Our Finds During this Genealogy Consultation

I was very satisfied with the progress we made in just 45 minutes!

  • A good candidate for James Scully in Griffith’s Valuation
  • James and Bridget Scully’s marriage record at Roots Ireland
  • James and Bridget Scully’s original marriage record at the National Library of Ireland
  • Baptisms for seven of the couple’s children.
  • A large gap where Margaret’s birth would have been.
  • We found Kildysart in county Clare. (I’m still not sure where that fits in by I now suspect the place is associated with Michael Lynch and not Margaret Scully.)

Postscript to My Consultation with a Professional Genealogist

I was so encouraged by our research session, that I combed back through the papers I had collected over decades in my Lynch binder. There I found a death date for Michael Lynch given to me by one of the distant cousins. The place of death was Stillwater, Minnesota.

A quick look at a map revealed that Stillwater, Minnesota was just 21 miles down and west across the Saint Croix River from East Farmington, Wisconsin.

On a hunch I did some digging and I discovered that Michael and Margaret were married at St Michael’s church in Stillwater, MN!

Marriage Certificate

Marriage Question Solved!

Book a 45-Minute Consultation with a Professional Genealogist

Thank you to Kate Eakman of Legacy Tree Genealogists for sharing her expertise and helping me make significant progress on my genealogical brick wall!

Legacy Tree Genealogists Consultation 45-minute

Click here to learn more about 45-minute genealogy consultations.

A 45-minute consultation with a professional genealogist is just $100. If you decide to book please go to www.LegacyTreeGenealogists.com/GenealogyGems
By using our link you are helping to support this free show at no additional cost to you. Thank you!
Exclusive Gems Offer: Save $100 on larger full-service genealogy research projects with code GGP100

Resources

Live Chat PDF– Click here to download the live Chat from episode. Includes answers to your questions about using the Adobe Spark Video app to make a video. 
Show Notes PDF – Genealogy Gems Premium Members can click here to download the show notes PDF for this episode. (Log in required.) Become a Premium Member here

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How to Find and Browse Unindexed Records at Ancestry – The Better Browsing Checklist

Browse-only collections at Ancestry and other genealogy websites are sometimes viewed as inaccessible, but they are actually a hidden treasure. Learn how to access these browse-only collections at Ancestry and expand your family history research.

better browsing ancestry checklist

In the past we’ve written about how to access browse-only content at FamilySearch.org. Many readers said it opened a whole new world of genealogy records to them that they didn’t know they were missing. 

The good news is that FamilySearch is not alone in offering browse-only content. Ancestry.com also has browse-only collections of digitized records. (Not an Ancestry.com subscriber yet? Click here to learn more. This is an affiliate link and we are compensated if you make a purchase, which supports this free blog. Thank you!)

Knowing how to search and browse records effectively is critical because you shouldn’t just rely on hints. Ancestry, for example, only provides hints from about the top 10% of their most popular databases. That means if you only spend time on reviewing hints, you’re missing a massive amount of genealogical information available in all of the other records. 

Typically you’ll be using the search feature to find those other records. However not all records are searchable. That’s because after the long process of acquiring the rights to digitize and publish a genealogy record collection, it takes even longer to get them indexed for a variety of reasons. Thankfully, Ancestry doesn’t always make us wait to gain access to them until the indexing is complete.

The digital images are published without an index. This means they are not searchable by names and other keywords. Therefore, it can take some time to locate a record within one of these collections. But I think you’ll agree it’s more convenient to look through them from the comfort of your own home rather than renting microfilm or traveling to a far off location!

Here’s your checklist for better browsing. 

HOW TO FIND BROWSE-ONLY RECORDS AT ANCESTRY

While Ancestry.com doesn’t make it quite as easy as FamilySearch to find browse-only or partially-indexed databases, it’s still very much worth the effort. 

1. Head to the Card Catalog

From the main menu on the Ancestry website, select Search > Card Catalog.

Ancestry.com Card Catalog Search

2. Search and Filter

In the upper left corner you can search the catalog by title and / or keyword. However, if you know the type of record you are looking for, such as military records, the best place to start is filtering by that category. If the list is long, you can then search within that category by keywords. 

Ancestry card catalog filtering column

3. Determining if the Records are Searchable

If you don’t see a search box on the left side, then you can assume that this collection has not yet been indexed and therefore isn’t searchable by keywords and other data. Instead you will see typically see the source information box at the top.

browse only genealogy record collection at Ancestry

HOW TO FILTER BROWSE-ONLY GENEALOGY RECORDS

1. Browse This Collection Box

On the right side of the screen you will see a Browse this Collection box. The filtering options presented will depend on the way the collection is organized. 

Filter browse only genealogy record collection at Ancestry

In the case of the Nevada County Marriage database, a drop down menu allows you to filter by county.

2. Make a Selection

As you can see in my example, once I selected a county I can also filter down by record books. So even though you can’t search names, you can often zero in on the portion of the collection most relevant to your search.

filtering down browse only records at Ancestry.com

Browse this Collection box

 

HOW TO BROWSE RECORDS AT ANCESTRY.COM

Once you have selected the available filters, you’ll find yourself in the digitized records. They are displayed in a filmstrip layout which will come in quite handy for navigation through the pages. 

Filmstrip navigation of genealogy records at Ancestry.com

Navigation is crucial since we can’s search by names and keywords. Let’s take a closer look at the ways you can navigate:

browse navigation at Ancestry.com

Browsing a digitized genealogy record collection at Ancestry.com

 

Finding the Filmstrip

if you don’t see the filmstrip view, click the filmstrip icon:

Filmstrip View

 

Finding and Using the Original Index

 

WATCH THE BONUS VIDEO below to see the next section in action. Click on the sound button to the right of the play button to turn on the sound. 

 

Many records that were originally bound in books like this collection include index pages. In this book the index appears at the beginning. If you look closely at the filmstrip images it’s easy to spot where the index lists are and where the records begin. 

index pages and record pages

So even though Ancestry hasn’t had the chance to index the records yet, they are indexed in the book. This will make the job of browsing for the records you need even easier. 

The “About” box on the card catalog entry often includes important information about whether or not the collection has an index. One example of this is the Canada, Photographic Albums of Settlement, 1892-1917 record collection. It is a browse-only series of digitized photo albums by Canada’s Department of the Interior between 1892 and 1917. The collection description includes very useful instructions such as: “At the beginning of each album, you will find a table of contents with a brief description of each photograph and the photograph number. Use these tables to help you browse to the photograph of interest.” As you can see, taking a few extra moments to read about the collection can make browsing it much easier. 

Browse only database of Canadian records

Save Time When Browsing Between Volumes

Remember that Browse this Collection box on the right hand side of the card catalog entry page? (See the Browse this Collection box image 6 images above.) This handy menu is also embedded in the record viewer. If you need to switch to a different book, album or other portion of the collection, you don’t have to hit the back button and start over. Instead, at the top of the viewing page, click the volume or collection you are currently viewing (this appears as a sub-title under the main title of the collection.) A browse structure menu will appear showing you all the other options within the collection. Just click the one you want and you will be instantly switched over. Think of it as pulling a different volume of a series of books off the shelf!

Browse structure on viewer page at Ancestry

Switching volumes within the collection within the viewer.

 

Browsing Indexed Records

There will be times when even though a record collection is indexed, you may still want to browse it. Browsing isn’t just for unindexed records. Many genealogy gems can be found by browsing a database that you’ve already searched. You may spot neighbors of interest, other surnames from your family tree, and more. So even when you are working with a record collection that has a search box, look for the browsing option in the right column.

browse indexed records at Ancestry

 

HOW TO FIND THE NEWEST RECORDS AT ANCESTRY.COM

The records most likely to not yet be indexed, and therefore browse-only, are the newest records added to Ancestry. If you’re looking to bust through a brick wall, here’s a great way to find the newest records that just might do it.

1. Go to the Card Catalog

From the main menu on the Ancestry website, select Search > Card Catalog.

2. Sort the Records

In the right hand corner you’ll find a Sort By menu. Select Date Added

New Records at Ancestry.com sorted by Date Added

Select Date Added from the Sort by menu.

3. Newest Record View

The Card Catalog will now be presented in the order in which the records were added. The newest records will appear at the top of the list.

4. Filter the List

Use the filters along the left side of the page to filter the collections by record type, location, and date. Then use the search boxes to target keywords. This will give you results that include your keyword starting with the newest collections.

BONUS PDF AND MORE RESOURCES

Making a small investment of time in getting to know the search and browsing functions of a website can pay off big.

BONUS PDF: Click to download a handy ad-free PDF version of this article for easy reference: How to Find and Browse Unindexed Records at Ancestry

Here are three more articles and podcast episodes here at Genealogy Gems that can help you maximize your genealogy research efforts:

WHAT DID YOU UNCOVER USING THESE BROWSING STRATEGIES?

Please leave a comment below and share the genealogy gems that you uncover using these techniques. And of course if you have any questions, leave those as comments as well and I’ll reply.

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