by
Janet Cassidy-Stroh
I.
Getting Started
If
you are just beginning your family history research,
before you can make the leap to your Irish immigrant
ancestor, you must start with yourself. All
good genealogy research works from the known to
the unknown, going backwards in time.
So you must start with yourself and your siblings.
Then go on to your parents and aunts and uncles,
and from there to your grandparents, and so on.
There
are many good books on beginning research, and many
good places on the internet to help you. Visit
a site like Cyndi’s
List and start with the How
To section. From there you will find
many sites to help you find the records to fill
in your family tree.
Before
you start your search abroad, realize that Irish
research is very difficult. Civil registration
started late (compared to England) and many records
have been accidentally or deliberately destroyed
over the years. But connections can be made.
II.
Crossing the Sea
When you are ready to make the jump across the water,
get a good book on Irish research, such as John
Grenham’s Tracing Your Irish Ancestors.
You can also visit the Irish
Times' website which is based on Grenham’s
book. Be sure also to visit Cyndi’s
List for Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Maybe
you already know through family story that your
family came from County Fermanagh, or Monaghan.
Maybe a tombstone inscription has told you your
immigrant was from Donegal. Cassidy is the
13th most common name in County Fermanagh, and the
5th most common of the of the native Irish names.
It is also common in Monaghan, Cavan, Antrim, and
Donegal.
Your next job is to figure out exactly where the
family came from, what parish, or better still,
what townland. For help in understanding Irish
Administrative Divisions and for a link to a searchable
database of townlands, click
here.
If
you are a member of the Cassidy Clan, you can contact
Clan Genealogist Nuala Cassidy-White. She
will search her records of Cassidys and try to connect
you with others searching and with your ancestors
in Ireland. You can join the Cassidy mail
list and find others searching your branch of the
family.
III.
Records
The Public Record
Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) has many
records that will interest you if your relatives
came from Northern Ireland. Their holdings include
copies or originals of all the Church of Ireland
records; copies of all the existing records for
Roman Catholic churches in the 9 counties of Ulster,
and many Presbyterian registers. They also
have school records, land records, the pre-1858
will index, and many other records. PRONI
also has the surviving census records for Northern
Ireland.
Birth and death records for Northern Ireland from
1864, and marriages from 1922 are kept at the General
Register Office, Oxford House, 49 - 55 Chichester
Street, Belfast BT1 4HL, Northern Ireland.
For pre-1922 marriages, you must write to the District
Registrar. The District Registrar Offices
have marriage registers dating from 1 April 1845
for non-Roman Catholics.
Vital
records in the Republic of Ireland are kept at the
General Register Office, 8 -11 Lombard Street, Dublin
2, Ireland. You can read more about these
records within the Irish-Times
website.
Many records are kept in the National
Archives of Ireland. This site contains
a searchable database of convicts transported to
Australia (some for crimes as small as stealing
a handkerchief or a loaf of bread) and a database
of Irish schools (in the Republic), along with tips
for starting and conducting genealogy searches.
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