Jack's Genealogy

Indexing at FamilySearch

2012-01-11T13:18:00.000-08:00

I decided to do it. For several years now, I've been using FamilySearch. It has been great. I've found census record, births and baptisms, and much more. I have had a paid subscription to Ancestry off and on over the past few years and that has been great too.

But FamilySearch is free and I appreciate it. While on the site looking at all those free records (and there are more each year), I noticed they were looking for volunteers to index. No time commitment. You don't have to say whether you can work an hour per week or 10 hours per week. You don't have to go somewhere to see the records. You can do as much or as little as you like and do it from home.

So next time you are at FamilySearch.org looking at those free records, notice the Menu across the top of the page. Look for the item that says "Indexing" and pick it to learn about the indexing projects going on and how to be a volunteer.

It's easy and painless and your chance to pay-back all the volunteers who have helped index the records you use.

Archibald Greer - Occupation

2011-10-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

I was looking at Matthew Greer's Marriage certificate which I wrote about yesterday. And I was trying to read his father's occupation. Here is a the part of the marriage certificate that has that:>

It looks like Rank on Professor Farmer. So does that mean he is a Professor and a Farmer or a Professor of Farming. Or perhaps it says he is a Professional Farmer. If so, how does that differ from an ordinary farmer (see Thomas Allinghams's entry).

If anyone wants to see the whole certificate, here it is. Because my scanner was smaller than the paper,it is in 2 overlapping pages. Oddly, the last column is not supposed to be occupation but that seems to be what is there.

Any suggestions welcome.

Matthew GREER of Sligo, Ireland - son of Archibald GREER

2011-10-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

Matthew GREER was probably born in Scotland around 1816. The first we know of him was having a child in Scotland. But he later lived in Ireland and it is certainly possible that these Greers were living in Ireland but Matthew had moved to Scotland for some reason and then moved back.

William GREER was born c 1849 in Scotland according to his death certificate. William's mother was Jane BURKARD and his father was Matthew GREER.

Next thing I know, Matthew is a widower, living in Sligo, Ireland and getting married again. (I assume that Jane had died but there certainly are other possibilities.)

On 23 Feb 1854, he married Ruth ALLINGHAM of Glencar in the parish church of Glenlough, Co Leitrim. He is listed as a shoemaker on the certificate. His residence is Sligo. He is listed as a widower. His father is listed as Archibald GREER. Ruth's father is Thomas ALLINGHAM a farmer in Glencar. Glencar lake straddles the Sligo / Leitrim border. It is close to the road from Sligo to Manorhamilton.

Unfortunately the marriage certificate just listed both Matthew and Ruth as being of full age. So I have nothing that indicates when Ruth was born. And only an estimate of Matthew's birth year from his a death certificate.

I have a death certificate for Matthew who died 29 Jan 1875 which gives his age as 58. On the certificate his residence is Ballinode, Sligo and his occupation is letter carrier. Both that residence and occupation are also found in birth certificates of his children.

The known children and birth dates are: John (c 1860), Jane or Jennie (c 1861), Elizabeth or Lizzie (16 Oct 1862), Letitia (27 April 1866), Sarah (30 March 1868), Ruth (14 Jan 1870), Rebecca (29 Aug 1872) Matthew (24 Sept 1874).

I’d love to hear from anyone who think they may be connected to this family or has answers for either of these questions:

1. Leticia’s 1866 birth certificate gives place of residence as Ballinode Cottage in the Parish of Calry. Has anyone heard of Ballinode cottage?

2. The child Matthew birth certificate shows a residence of Rath Quarter, Sligo but the death cert of the father is 4 months later and shows a residence of Ballinode. Looking at a map of Sligo it looks like these 2 places are close together but not the same.
Is it more likely that: they lived in Ballinode for the births from 1866-1872, moved to Rath Quarter for the 1874 birth and then back to Ballinode; OR the places were very close together and Ballinode and Rath Quarter may have been used for the same place?

Irish deeds

2011-09-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

If you have ancestors who may have owned or leased property in Ireland you may want to check out the Registry of Deeds Index Project. There are over 70,000 records indexed now and more to come. The index is searchable by name, location, and various other ways. This is a real resource for those of us with an interest in Irish genealogy.

Free Immigration Collection at Ancestry

2011-09-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

Periodically Ancestry allows free access to part of their records for a limited time. This week (thought Sept 5), you will find free access to their Immigration Collection. Have a look.

Irish Gleanings

2011-08-25T12:28:00.000-07:00

I ran across a new website today called Irish Gleanings at http://sites.google.com/site/irishgleanings/.

It is extracted information from hundreds of Irish migrants derived from US State Department records at the US National Archives. You might find a place or date on that elusive ancestor.

The site is well worth a look and I have add a link to it to my Irish Genealogy links page at http://www.jackreidy.com/genealogy/irishlinks.htm

My Book Addiction: Review: Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

2011-02-13T14:39:00.000-08:00

My Book Addiction: Review: Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Surnames

2010-12-23T07:17:00.000-08:00

I updated my Irish Surname Page which is at:
http://www.jackreidy.com/genealogy/surnames.htm

I update this page regularly during the year as I run across new pages. If you are interested in a specific surname (or Irish surnames in general), it may be worth your time to check the page now and then.

Jack

Reidy of Rock Island Illinois

2010-08-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

I was looking for something else in Footnote (about my Reidys) and ran into this record in the 1860 census.No relation that I know of but thought it might help someone.

address: Moline, Rock Island Illinois

Name	sex	age	born	occupation
Martin Reidy	m	35	Ireland	?? Carriage Maker
Marcella	f	35	Ireland	wife
John	m	8	NY ?
Ann	f	5	Do
James	m	3	Ill
Elizabeth	f	1	Do

Still Learning? see my Irish Genealogy Tips

2010-04-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

Irish Genealogy Tips
These tips just point you in the direction of some good resources. In your case some may be helpful and some not so helpful.

1. Maybe someone has already done a good bit of work on your family but you don’t know it. Perhaps a third or fourth cousin you don’t know. Or there might be some people searching the same surname who are not closely related but may have some advice. One way to check that out is my Irish surnames page

2. There are also mailing lists where you get emails on a topic which could be a surname or interest such as Irish genealogy or even as local as Co Limerick genealogy. Maillists work by sending a copy of each message to posted to all subscribers. Some lists are very small and some are large.
Generally on lists, it is good practice to subscribe and then just read messages for a week or 2 before you post. Get a feel for the list. And read the welcome message you get when subscibing. List owners often describe the type things that are allowed and not allowed on their lists. Mail lists are a very powerful way to get your message in front of many people who may be able to help. Make a good first impression. Learn the types of things that are unacceptable on the list, how people ask questions, etc.
Many lists are hosted by Rootsweb. You may want to check out the Rootsweb Maillists. There are 2 search boxes and you can search the archives for a name or term of interest. Or search for a maillist (Find a mailing list) by keyword. The keyword Ireland pulls up about 200 mailing lists out of the 30,000 or so lists at Rootsweb.

3. There are also many websites with good information. See the web version of this for a list

4. This relates to all above. Let others know the names you are searching and the questions you have. Maybe you’ll find someone or someone will find you and they may know more (or less). The real power of the internet is not the records you’ll find online. There are some but not that many. It is the person-to-person sharing that goes on. It may be on very general matters or very specific but it only happens when people know about each other. Participate in a maillist list if you want. Also leave queries and register your surname interested when you can. You might want to explore Rootsweb. They have a very large web site with all sorts of resources. They are the online home of many genealogical societies (including the IGSI) and host many mail lists. And among many things you will find the the world’s largest surname interest list.

5. There is an amazing amount of information on the internet, most of it free. Just look at my search page for more information on searching options.

Most all of it’s a hobby (although it borders on obsession in many cases) so enjoy it.

Jack

Surname variations

2010-02-09T15:33:00.000-08:00

Improper spellings and recordings of surnames are frequent. The results can be confusing and misleading. Although this is a common problem in Genealogy, and Irish Genealogy, I'll give an example for my name (Reidy) which may be more or less confusing than some.In various family records I've seen the name spelt as Reidy, Riedy and Ready.

For example, READY is a common spelling variant of REIDY (derived from O'Riada) but it may also be used for REDDY (derived from O'Rodaigh). If you know something of the geographic origins of the family, that may help sort things out in a specific case as the O'Riada are a Dalcassian sept found mainly in the west of Ireland whereas the O'Rodaigh are based in Kilkenny. REEDY may be just a spelling variant but is often derived from Mac Riada (in Donegal) or Mac Conriada (in Derry). More details (and a fuller and more accurate explanation) can be found in MacLysaght's The Surnames of Ireland. Other surnames also seem to be mixed up with REIDY. To say the least, the situation is very confusing
To add an international dimension to the problem, there are similar or identical names with non-Irish origins. You will find several German/Swiss families named REIDY, RIEDY, or REEDY.

Griffith's Valuation online

2010-02-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

Last night I ran across a blog post with new (to me) information on Griffith's Valuation. I would guess that most of us interested in Irish Genealogy know about this resource. But for those who don't, it is perhaps the most important set of records for most of us interested in tracing our Irish families to the mid 1800s. Check out this blog entry: http://irishfamilyresearch.blogspot.com/2010/01/griffiths-valuation.html . The link to search engine for an online version of Griffith's is well-worth the click.

I've added this blog http://irishfamilyresearch.blogspot.com/ to those I'll be following on a regular basis.

Registry of Deeds, Ireland

2010-01-16T12:46:00.000-08:00

Those of us with ancestors from Ireland who may have owned or leased property should check out the Registry of Deeds Index Project. There are over 45,000 records indexed now and that number should grow. The index is searchable by name, location, and various other ways. So it is well worth a look if one of your interests is Irish Genealogy.

Irish Surname Page

2009-12-12T16:43:00.000-08:00

Today I updated my Irish Surname Page which is at:
http://www.jackreidy.com/genealogy/surnames.htm

Many people have made WWW pages for those researching specific surnames. Sometimes the pages deal with specific families. Sometimes they are for everyone concerned with the surname. I am trying to compile links to those pages for Irish families.

Jack

URL Updated Jan 16, 2010 because I moved pages around in a general reorganization of website. I also updated the page today.

Michael Reidy New York 1905

2009-12-10T12:19:00.000-08:00

I was looking at a film of the 1905 New York State Census and this caught my eye. Although this family is no relation that I know of, I thought it might help someone.
address: 316 W. 28th St, New York, NY
assembly district 9 election district 19
Name              relationship age born yrs in US occupation
Michael Reidy    head        38 Ireland      22    Railroad Foreman
Annie wife       35 U.S.
Erin               dau              15 U.S.
Leila               dau               13 U.S.

I’m posting this from http://www.jackreidy.com/genealogy/reidymisc.htm as a blog post might get more attention than something buried on a webpage.

URL Updated Jan 16, 2010 because I moved pages around in a general reorganization of website.
Jack

National Genealogical Society Blog

2009-10-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

The National Genealogical Society (NGS) has starting posting a blog at http://upfront.ngsgenealogy.org/ I see several advantages here. The obvious one is that stuff is available immediately when posted instead of waiting for the newsletter to come out. And if you are reading this, you may like the blog format better than a newsletter. Then there are comments on the articles which can add value to the articles. Of course the advantage to the NGS is that by making this information more public, they may increase public awareness of the organization.

Reidy website

2009-10-12T03:50:00.000-07:00

If you have Reidy (or some spelling variants), you may want to check out my website, the Gathering of Reidys, if you haven't visited lately. Lots of queries from other researchers interested in the name and some general information. It has moved and the new URL is:

http://www.jackreidy.com/genealogy/reidy.htm

Also linked to it are lots of resources for genealogy in Ireland and Co Limerick (Ireland). You should be able to get to these from my Reidy page but if you rather start a my main page, the URL for that is:

http://www.jackreidy.com/

URL Updated Jan 16, 2010 because I moved pages around in a general reorganization of website.

Emma Cash from Allegheny, PA

2009-08-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to find out more about Emma Cash who we think was born in Allegheny, PA in about 1867. I believe that is now part of Pittsburgh. Her mother was Ellen Gow (probably from Ireland) and her father was Charles Cash (probably from Germany). She and Ellen Cash are listed in the Federal census for 1860 and 1870 in Westmoreland Co PA.

Extended free access

2009-08-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago, I posted about free access for records at WorldVitalRecords.com between Aug 11 and 13. As it turns out this offer has been extended to Aug 18. I've been reading some list emails and some people say they've found useful stuff and some people have less luck. Worth a look, if you haven't tried it yet.

free access to genealogical and historical records

2009-08-11T03:37:00.000-07:00

I just heard of free access to a lot of records for the next few days. I've already signed up and they don't seem to ask for much (your email address, name, telephone number, and a password). The offer was described in some detail in Randy's Genea-Musings at:
http://www.geneamusings.com/2009/08/worldvitalrecordscom-free-for-three.htm

Sign up for this if you have time to check out the free records at WorldVitalRecords.com between Aug 11 and 13.

FamilySearch - Cecil County Maryland

2009-07-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

Wow! I am very impressed with the Family Search Pilot. Genealogy heaven you might say. Look it over - Federal Census, State Census, and more records. Limited now but the project is growing. I've just checked out American stuff because that's where I'm looking right now but they also seem to have many international records you can search.

A few days ago I noticed the Maryland, Cecil County Probate Records on the site. Since my wife has Frazer ancestors from Cecil county, I just started with a search by surname which turned up several records I wanted to look at. I read the will of her ggggrandmother, Emily Frazer. I did have a problem with 1 record so I emailed and heard back within a day. I was doubly impressed. Not only a chance to look at some very old ancestral stuff, but when I had a problem with one record (Emily's grandson), I emailed support and heard back the next day. Very impressive website and impressive support. Now to look at my Bouldens, Evans, and Scotts in that county.

Check it out:
http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=home

Genealogy By Village

2009-07-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

I just ran across any interesting website for genealogy. My initial finding was due to looking for something new for Irish (specifically limerick) Genealogy but this is useful for all villages in the UK and Ireland. The site is the CuriousFox http://www.curiousfox.com/. There is a function (near the top of the page) that allows you to search for locations or browse to the location of interest and see who is searching what names in that area. The site is supported by a modest subscription but you are welcome to look for free.

Improve your genealogy queries

2009-07-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

I see genealogical queries in many places that could be much improved. You want to give enough information that someone working on the same family would recognize it and read the query. After all, what is the point unless you get potential relatives to read it.

A good title gets attention. For example if I was researching Emma MacKenzie who lived in New York around 1890 to 1920, I'd be very like to read a query that was entitled "Emma MacKenzie, New York, 1895" than something simply called "MacKenzie family". Gives enough in the title to make it interesting enough that your potential relatives will read it. People are busy and are unlikely to read further unless they have reason to believe your query is worth a bit of their time.

Try to keep it to the point. You can share details by email when someone writes you. Any given name unless it's really odd will most likely occur several times in an area so be sure to include facts like spouse, children and approximate dates. Remember that the potential relative that reads this may know either more or less than you do. Don't make the query so long that people give up before getting to the essential facts.

Welcome

2009-07-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

This is a new blog for my interests in Irish genealogy. For time to time, I'll post something I think of interest or comment on another blog that has something I think helpful.