Looking for Ancestors

Hi Maureen,

Thank you for your message.

Unfortunately it will be difficult to find information on James and Elizabeth without a more specific place of origin. Most Irish record sources- church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations. Until you know a specific location within Ireland, preferably a parish or placename, it may be difficult to do anything more with these records.

Have you tried looking at official documentation form their time in Scotland to see if any place name is mentioned? This may include, census records, wills, marriage records etc. Here are links to the UK National Archives and the National Archives of Scotland where you can find information on these:

The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

The National Archives Scotland- family history: http://www.nas.gov.uk/familyHistory/

You may also find a place name in unofficial documents such as letters, diaries or family bibles.

Have you tried looking for some record of the family at www.familsearch.org ? This is a huge database of genealogical records which includes some Irish church records.

You could also try looking for church records at www.rootsireland.ie however please note you have to pay to use this website.

Also, both Catholic and Church of Ireland records from the pre 1900 period are currently being uploaded to www.irishgenealogy.ie/index.html free of charge. However, as this is an on-going project not all records are available yet.

Civil registration began in Ireland in 1864, so if they were married or had any of their children in Ireland after this date it would be recorded in these records. You can search the indexes to these records here:

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347

If you can find some record of anyone in family at theses websites it will give you a parish name.

Some other websites that you may find useful in your research are:

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/index.htm

I hope this is helpful. Remember to post any new information you may find as the more information you post, the more likely it is that one of our volunteers will be able to advise or assist you. Also include information concerning which sources you may have already used so others may further your search.  

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support

I wanted to let someone know that I did not get any notice that I had a message.  Can someone explain why?  I am getting a bit confused as this is not the first time this has happened.  Thank you in advance.  Maureen

Hi Maureen,

Thank you for letting us know.

When posting your message, if you scroll down the page to the section entitled 'subscriptions', there is the option to tick the box beside 'This Post'. If you have ticked this box, you should be receiving notifications whenever someone leaves a response to you.

Also, under the subsriptions section there is a box marked 'notifications'. If you click on this it gives you the option to turn off notifications. Please check that this box has not been ticked.

I hope that this is helpful. If you continue to have problems please let me know.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support