Ancestry Research

I spent last Friday doing some ancestry research at the National Archives and the National Library of Ireland here in Dublin. We have information on ancestors that goes back to roughly the 1850's on my mom's side but there are a lot of holes and a lot of what we know is through word of mouth so I knew going in it could be frustrating. But the luck of the Irish prevailed and I was able to get some new information.

Starting at the National Archives I gave the genealogists there the name of Joseph Egan, who is my great-great-great grandfather who was from County Tipperary. They did a search within Griffith's Valuation Database, a property survey done between 1848-1864 that is one of the main tools people have to trace their roots around that time because civil registration of births, deaths, marriages, etc. didn't begin in Ireland until 1864. The search came up with 2 matches of a Joseph Egan in Tipperary during that time. I looked through microfilm and printed off information for both men, still not sure if either was the person I was looking for.

The genealogists said my next step would be to go to the National Library and look up the civil parish records based on what parish Griffith's Valuation said those two men resided within. When I got to the library I was told that I needed permission from the Dicoese of Cashel to view the microfilm for the Joseph Egan of the civil parish of Fennor. By permission they probably meant I would have to pay them. This was later confirmed by someone I was talking to who was also doing ancestry research that day. He said those records are a resource for them and they want to profit off of us. Sneaky Irish!

So, now I had to hope that that Joseph Egan was not the one I was looking for. I started looking through the microfilm for the civil parish of Loughkeen where the other Joseph Egan was from, which is all hand written in that impossible to read 19th century script. It listed baptisms and marriages anywhere from the 1830's to the 1880's. We knew that he and his wife Winifred Clarke had a son, William Charles Egan (who came to America and is the one on the horse, for all you Fennells and Keoghs), around 1850, so I looked there and I was thrilled to see that I found a match! Looking further I was also able to find that Joseph and Winifred were married in 1842.

Through my parents (who have done a lot of research themselves) I've been able to piece together other little bits, and I plan on taking a day off at the end of the month to get some more stuff done. As my mom would say, I have the bug!

Happy St. Patrick's Day (weekend)!