Sifting through Irish American newspapers can be a great way to uncover relatives you didn’t know about. But you’ll need to be armed with some knowledge of how your ancestors were recorded to make the most of these online collections.
For instance, female relatives were often recorded by their initials, so you should search for them by those letters.
Search by Last Name
Many of your Irish ancestors will have immigrated to America during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. As a result, there are numerous records available that can help you track them down. These include censuses (especially the 1901 and 1911 censuses, indexed at Findmypast); tithe applotment books from the early to mid-1820s; calendars of wills and administration; and various naturalization records.
In addition to these records, look at newspaper articles about your Irish genealogical records. This can provide clues to their life back home in Ireland. For example, an ad for a missing friend or relative who had crossed the Atlantic could mention Irish counties, townlands, and parishes.
You should also check out the various county histories published for the historical counties where your ancestors lived. These can provide a wealth of information about the area and can be located in the library catalog, online, or at local libraries. They can provide names of relatives and other vital information about your ancestors. Sometimes, they can point you to different relevant record sets, such as church records, civil registration indexes, or other Irish genealogy resources.
Search by Initials
A little-known resource can be extremely helpful in locating Irish ancestors in US newspaper archives. While only some of these resources will give you the information you are looking for, they can provide valuable clues to help you trace your Irish ancestors back home.
Beneficial are Irish American newspapers, which preserved valuable birth, marriage, and death announcements that were not published in Ireland until 1864. Before that time, Ireland’s churches held the only official records of these events.
These announcements could be significant for researchers because they often include the name of an individual’s next of kin. Additionally, they may note their occupation or place of origin in Ireland. The place of origin is particularly significant for Irish ancestors, as Ireland was a small country, and towns were very close-knit, with strong connections between families.
Depending on the exact circumstances of your Irish ancestor’s immigration, it is possible that their townland of origin was noted in their obituary, tombstone, burial record, or naturalization papers. These specific areas can be challenging to locate, so it is a good idea to make sure you are searching all possible resources for this information.
Search by City or State
One of the goals for many researchers with Irish ancestry is to find an ancestor’s county of origin in Ireland. This can be a challenging goal, but there are several resources available that can help break down brick walls and fill in gaps in the research. One of these resources is newspapers.
Newspapers can provide a wealth of genealogical information, from obituaries and birth, marriage, and death notices to court proceedings and news items. They can also offer insights into the lives of your ancestors, both in their community and their native country.
You can use newspapers in your search for Irish ancestors in several ways. One way is to search by city or state. This can be useful for those whose ancestors moved around or lived in different cities. Another way to use newspapers is to look for mentions of specific events or locations with which your ancestor might have been associated.
Another way to use newspapers is to search for advertisements for missing persons. For years, many of these ads catered to an Irish immigrant community, including information about the counties, townlands, and parishes from which a person was missing. Several websites offer transcriptions of these ads.
Search by Date
Irish American newspapers can help you uncover more than your ancestors’ names. The information in these newspapers can build a narrative about your family and provide you with insight into the culture that shaped your Irish ancestors.
For example, the Irish were extremely bonded to their homes and communities, often leading to families following chain migration patterns. Each immigrant would work in America briefly and then send their wages back home to fund the next family member’s trip to America. This can be found in immigration records but can also be discovered through newspaper articles and obituaries.
Additionally, if your ancestor was buried in a cemetery or graveyard, it may be possible to determine their townland. This small land area defines a community and can be quite granular. Understanding this concept when researching Irish genealogy is essential because it can be a key piece of the puzzle in understanding the people you are trying to find.
Start by utilizing any records you have at your disposal within your family, and then move to outside sources like those described above. You can uncover many new facts about your Irish ancestors and their stories with perseverance.
