Comments on: Using Ancestry: Using the Census to Find my Irish Chains

by: Betty Boucher

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 18:11:26 +0000

Help! I was confussed before by my Irish relatives but Margaret O’Keeffe’s note about the “Six Counties” census belonging to Great Britain just left my brain numb……..I’m looking for Gallagher families between 1820 and 1850 who migrated to the US. Would their counties be part of the Six Counties? How do I find out, why don’t you do an “item” on this in the Ancestry Weekly? All help is appreciated.

by: Shayne Moon

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 08:50:47 +0000

Another caution should be made. Not all people made it into the indexes. I have had a few difficult searches where finding an ancestor was accomplished by ignoring the fact that they existed and looking for someone else. One ancestor was cleary written in the census but missed entirely in the transcription for the indexes. I only found them by looking for their daughter whose married name I happened to know. And, lucking out because the two families were together at the time.

Just because you find only one person to match your criteria does not logically conclude that there are no others.

Thank you for the informative articles you write.

Shayne Moon

by: Gayel

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 17:32:31 +0000

Once again, a helpful article, even if I’m searching for ancestors who moved from Prussia to Chicago(and probably changed their name in the process)!

by: Barry Spinner

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 15:11:04 +0000

This is a very useful article on exploring chain migration issues. I have used the same censuses to track a family immigrating to the Cincinnati area - my Ecuadorian wife’s ‘German’ ancestor: Herman GRUNAUER Newman. John’s analysis is much more elegant than mine of course.

He is interesting for two reasons:

(1) in the LDS’ IGS he appears as marrying in Peru around 1870, and dying in Cincinnati in about 191x. He only stayed in USA about 7 years, and is mis-spelled in the Census.

(2) He founded a prolific line of GRUNAUERs that populate an area of Ecuador. There are more GRUNAUERs in Ecuador than anywhere else in the world now - including Germany.

Through identifying his relatives who stayed in America after his departure to ‘Peru’, I was able to ascertain the German-Prussian hometown of all of them.

Question: Why is doing my in-laws so much easier than my own lines?

by: Margaret O'Keeffe

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 14:59:35 +0000

I have been watching for postings of Irish records for a couple of years now, and am constantly disappointed. When I saw this article, I thought ‘Oh, at long last, something’, but was again disappointed. Is it possible that Ancestry is not aware that Derry (for example) is part of the ‘Six Counties’ and therefore, the census would belong to Great Britain - NOT Ireland?
When I first saw that Ancestry was publishing Irish and U.K. records, I was interested, but they always seemed to be British records rather than anything Irish.
I would be grateful for a list of any Irish records available. I did have a Census subscription with Ancestry a few years ago, but was unable to use it, so I am reluctant to pay another subscription unless I am sure it will be of use to me.
Thank you for your help.
Yours sincerely,
Margaret O’Keeffe,
Galway City,
Ireland.

by: L. Kunkel

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 13:58:30 +0000

1. 1st sending - - said my add. was incorrect = = ??

2. APPRECIATE “your” valuabel “search assistance”.

3. BUT - - using Ireland as birth place… also, brings up persons born in ICELAND !! - - (someone, needs to add Iceland as a country. !!!!!)
Thank you.