Irish Traveller Surnames

[jlangley]

Wow, that's so cool to know. How could I find out more about these surnames? I guess I should look more into my family tree and see what other names are there.

[Romany Knaves]

you are on the right site to ask for more information, first names and dates if you have any will help, also look at the census returns, some information may be found on these, there are other community sites also which cater for your ethnic group that may be Traveller, Romany, you just have to dig and be patient and wait for a just reward these most times however come in dribs and drabs, I am still searching for family members nearly twenty years on anyhow I do hope you find what you seek. kushti bok.

[jlangley]

John Patrick Kelley was born in County Down Ireland in 1773 and his wife Mamie Whalen was born in 1775, Isle of Wright, Hampshire, England. How do you know if they were travellers? Is there a record? Is it just based on known traveler surnames?

[Romany Knaves]

hi
there are many things that may come into play, you may be lucky and get info of a census but it may not state that they are gypsy or traveller it may just say ag lab, or hawker or pedlar but they are not always from a travelling family, so any family history you may have or are told may pin point their roots, certain names may indicate a traveller or gypsy, perhaps certain words or sayings as like the Romany travellers had and have their own words which are not understood by native Irish people, prior to the census you have to look at church records these may hold clues such as travelling tinker baptised, Irish travellers seem to have landed firstly in Scotland around 1100 then moved southwards into England but then you have Scottish travellers not to be confused with Irish Travellers, move forward to today and you may find English Travellers claiming to be Gypsies but in fact are just the ancestors of English peasants who took to the road and this happened in many countries of Europe but I do not believe it happened in Ireland though the very distant ancestors had been native black smiths I believe, it is rather a melting pot and for some it can be easy to identify their ancestors but for others it is one big puzzle, for me I had a bit of a head start as a cousin started doing family history in the early seventies by going to all the churches of a town that an ancestor was known to live and looked at the BMD records, I have also walked around many a church yard or cemetery to search and gather name, though the web is good it wont solve all your puzzles or answer all your questions and because travellers and gypsies did not stay in any one place for long periods it makes it a little harder to research, anyhow all the best and happy hunting.