Irish Genealogy - See Which Lass Is Your Relative!

[Sheldon Hudson]

There are thousands of others like you who are looking out for their
invisible Irish relatives consisting of kith and kin that may have
separated during war-times or due to a lack of constant communication
in the older generation who did not have access to modern day instant
communication means. Still others may be looking for Irish blood
relatives who may have gone underground for some reason or others who
have gone missing and may not even know they have family somewhere;
perhaps, even as you live in neighboring towns or localities.
Finding out about your Irish family roots can help you learn about
your culture, history and origins besides the migrants in your family
tree - where they went, who they married and their extended family.
There are public records that can be perused in local library archives
and newssheets that will reveal essential information about an
invisible relative (or two), who may have been otherwise hard to
discover had it not been for your patient research and the
government's census reports that are available for all US citizens to
see.
You have to remember though that before 1865, women's liberation
hadn't really been a matter of common acceptance and so there may be
many of female Irish invisible relatives in your family tree that defy
your search results as women didn't have legal identities in many US
states, besides of course, in Ireland itself. This lack of women-
centric community records of 200 odd years ago may be something
insurmountable at first for the person keen to extensively research
married relatives and existing family of Irish descent. It is also
compounded further by the fact that no property was registered in a
woman's name during the 18th and 19th century and even during the
registration of civil marriages, it was only the father's names of the
couple that was listed, so this doesn't really help matters as well.
At times, what happened to erase a woman's community records was the
fact that she may have brought disgrace to her family by indulging in
a relationship that society doesn't approve of; an Irish widow with
grown children re-marrying at a ripe age is a prime example of what
would embarrass the religious group they are, so it is likely such
women were not spoken about leave alone kept on record.
Thus, these and other tales in an Irish family's less-than-perfect
history may well be omitted besides children and infants that died
early, which were distressing points for the family-oriented Irish.
It was only after the 1900's that former spouses were mentioned in the
US census records with the Irish that settled here able to face up to
the challenge of living in less orthodox settings and able to open up
to family details so these benefited present generation American Irish
looking out for their roots.
People wanting to rediscover their Irish roots while living in US are
advised to study and research both sides of their gene pool to find
missing pieces to this ethnic jigsaw puzzle and put together that
beloved family tree, replete with elusive and invisible Irish
relatives.
e. Checking the census can be effective in finding the persons who are
related to the one you are looking for. Another is to learn some
significant traditions associated with the place. For example, in
Ireland, the naming tradition is very popular. Irish men name their
oldest son after their grandfather. If the person is already married,
then search for the marriage record. Take note, during the 1860,
divorce is not favored in Ireland. So, better check for death records
also in case the name changed.
Finally, be patient as your research progresses. After all, it is
worthwhile to embrace your origin again and find the missing part of
your life.

Search Millions of Public Records: http://groups.google.de/group/pubrecs/