Irish Research

[sunic]

HELP!  I am trying to find my grandfather's birth.  All I know is that his birthday is 8th May and he was born about 1891/2.  I believe he was born in Ireland (no idea where) but came to Portsmouth and settled here.  I can't find him on Ancestry tho I thought they included Irish records.  Where should I start?

[Arranroots]

Hi Sunic

Welcome to RootsChat! 

I would be inclined to start with his marriage certificate - do you have that yet?

It should give you a father's name and occupation, which will at least prove a pointer.

The Irish censuses are very slowly making their way onto the internet and hopefully it won't be too long before the 1911 census is available for counties other than Dublin (currently the only one, as far as I know).

If you would like to give us more detail, there are people with better knowledge of Ireland than mine.  I will move your post to the Ireland board in order to attract the best attention.

kind regards, Arranroots 

[aghadowey]

There are some but not many Irish records on Ancestry. LDS site (www.familysearch.org) has many but not all Irish births 1864-c1882.

[sunic]

hi Arranroots,
                   By the time my Grandfather married he was living in Portsmouth.  I have a photocopy of the marriage entry (in Latin!) but it only gives his fathers first name - Joseph, no further details.  They were married in the Catholic Cathedral there and it was a mixed religion marriage.  I have approached the Cathedral, thinking they may have wanted further details from him such as a baptism certificate, but they have no other details.  I can't even tell which of them was Catholic!   

Thanks,

Sunic

[Arranroots]

Hello again

I was actually thinking that you could obtain the marriage certificate from the GRO - that should include father's name and occupation, plus the names of witnesses which are often handy.  You need to look at the full indexes - if you need help we can look for you but of course we don't have names or dates which make it easier, lol! 

kind regards, Arranroots 

[sunic]

Thank you, I have ordered it.  I found my grandmother on the marriage register and wondered why I couldn't find my Grandfather in the same quarter - they had transposed his Christian names .  I will wait for it to come and see if it sheds any light.

Am I right in thinking the records office in Dublin has records for the whole of Ireland?  If so we may take a short break and go and dig a bit!

Thanks again

sunic

[Arranroots]

I am no expert on Irish records - have drawn a blank myself!

Once you have the details from the cert you will be in a much better position to continue - you can try the IGI without leaving your computer, so that's to be recommended for starters.

You can also post on the Ireland board - especially if you have managed to work out which area your ancestor came from.

Let us know how you get on with the certificate & we will do our best to help.

kind regards, Arranroots 

[scotmum]

sunic, as aaronroots has already said, if you provide names/dates/etc, folks on the boards may be able to help you better. Unless I've missed it, your grandfather's name would be very helpful.

 

[sunic]

Thanks.  His name was Alfred Austen Thompson and his birthday was 8th May.  He was born sometime in the early 1890s.  His death certificate says he was born in Birmingham but apparently this is untrue and I cannot find any trace of him there ( I got a birth certificate for someone that seemed to match but it wasn't him).  His son says he was born in Ireland but he doesn't know where.  He thinks the family were travellers.  By 1922 he was living in Portsmouth and married my grandmother Edith Mabel Grout on Boxing Day in the Roman Catholic Cathedral.  That is the sum total of the family's knowledge!!

sunic