Well, kinda Irish

[IrishDave]

This a fun conversation.........thanks for exercising my brain. As far as employment, I have always found that hard working ambitious people will always prevail even if starting with a disadvantage. The Protestants did have more money by the nature of how most got to Ireland because they were Middle to upper class people that had money to support Henry and Cromwell to fight the war. There is a list of people that donated to the crown and after the war was over received land in the country. They were called "adventurers" and my family name (Wright) is on it. Beyond that, they were a very early middle class group, many were small busisness owners and self employed tradesmen (like my people) that knew how to prosper wherever they were. They were blamed for being hard working and prosperous by less aggressive people in the society. (Like today here in the US) of all my relatives I know from the Irish/Protestant side, I don't know any that were (or are) drunks or victims. I have a great photo of my 2nd great grandfather taken in a staged photo studio around 1860 with a bird dog and shotgun taken in a Dublin shop. Familiar similarities are striking, in both appearance and lifestyles.

My father's line of Shaughnessy was here in time for the 1880 census in Brooklyn. I believe I have him tracked down to a landlord's tax record in Gort, Co. Galway. But older history shows the line having brothers on both sides of the arguments over a number of holdings in that area.

 

[tac]

It's odd that you guys can trace all your lrish relatives back to the year dot, when I can only trace mine back to 1904 - when my dad was born in Cork. Everything else after that, officially that is, was destroyed in 1922 when Anti-treaty forces occupying the Four Courts in Dublin set fire to the national archives, destroying almost three hundred years-worth of census's and other important information that has yet to be even partly recovered, ninety-six years later. I have no idea what my grandmother's maiden name was, and no idea where she and my grandfather were even born.

tac

 

[IrishDave]

It's odd that you guys can trace all your lrish relatives back to the year dot, when I can only trace mine back to 1904 - when my dad was born in Cork. Everything else after that, officially that is, was destroyed in 1922 when Anti-treaty forces occupying the Four Courts in Dublin set fire to the national archives, destroying almost three hundred years-worth of census's and other important information that has yet to be even partly recovered, ninety-six years later. I have no idea what my grandmother's maiden name was, and no idea where she and my grandfather were even born.

tac

I've only traced (accurately) back through US Census records and (reasonably) to records where there was only one match for age and name and the county my father told me they came from before he died. I wish I had taken more interest while he was more sober. Unfortunately he also hadn't kept up with his own siblings which is making it more difficult for me to find them to see if they have more information. My mother's relatives gathered their recollections into a book about 40 years ago so there's some kind of records even if it's difficult to get through (they had a habit of calling each other by initials or by their middle name).

 

[Argonaut]

I've only traced (accurately) back through US Census records and (reasonably) to records where there was only one match for age and name and the county my father told me they came from before he died. I wish I had taken more interest while he was more sober. Unfortunately he also hadn't kept up with his own siblings which is making it more difficult for me to find them to see if they have more information. My mother's relatives gathered their recollections into a book about 40 years ago so there's some kind of records even if it's difficult to get through (they had a habit of calling each other by initials or by their middle name).

We have the advantage of good immigration and ship passage records here in the US. My best recourses in Ireland have been via my Presbyterian roots. I visited the retired reverend in my families home town in Ireland 2 years ago. Looks like there are 10 or more generations buried in the family plot at the church in Ballybay. We found my immigrant grandfather's baptism record there as well..........and off course living relatives. The Catholic records were kept in a different place, I think they were the ones burned. You never get far from discussing religion in Ireland.

 

[IrishDave]

We have the advantage of good immigration and ship passage records here in the US. My best recourses in Ireland have been via my Presbyterian roots. I visited the retired reverend in my families home town in Ireland 2 years ago. Looks like there are 10 or more generations buried in the family plot at the church in Ballybay. We found my immigrant grandfather's baptism record there as well..........and off course living relatives. The Catholic records were kept in a different place, I think they were the ones burned. You never get far from discussing religion in Ireland.

A trip to Ireland is on my bucket list. I need more reliable information about my family back there. Even ships' passenger lists don't contain much if any details. I found two Edwards making passage to New York with the right age for the date of travel. But he could have returned to Ireland for a second trip. That wasn't unusual.