trying to find family hi a brick wall

 Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.

The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project in conjunction with FTDNA and can offer testing kits at a reduced price.  http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).

Hi Kathleen,

Sometimes family stories are just family stories. A lot of Irish men and women went to England and worked without changing their names. Plus "John McGirl/McGarrell" is an Irish name; I did a search on RootsIreland and found over 60 Irish children baptized with that name.

You mentioned John went to England around 1820, but was born c1811-48.  Did you mean 18, not 48?

If John went to England as a youngster, you might be able to find him on the UK censuses living with his parents. You'd then have their names and might be able to find him in Irish baptism records.

Have you searched John in all of the UK censuses?  Sometimes these censuses give county or town in Ireland where the person was born.

Do you know the names of John's children?  The first son was usually named after the paternal grandfather.

Have you looked at the vital and church records for John and for his children? These sometimes give family info and place of origin in Ireland,  Have you seen his obituary? His headstone? These are often good sources as well.

If you have done the above, please forgive me. I'm just trying to help!

Good luck!

hi patricia,

he was married in england in 1832 and born 1811 so i presume he went in late 1820's and as his first apparence on the cences is in 1841 with his wife and kids it just has ireland as place of birth.

he died in 1848 but the i applied for a death cert but they had no record of it only the parish record, and cant locate yhe grave but this was during the cholora epidemic in the area so he may have been buried in a plauge pit. there is only a parish record of the marriage .

his 1st son was miles (my direct ancestor) but hewas born in 1838 a long time after the marriage so i suspect he wasnt the ist baby born, his second child in 1840, the next 2sons and 2 daughters all died around the time john died..

i cant find his family in ireland on any records because i dont knoe what the correct surname is . my father said the Mc was added after he died , johns mcgirl son john 's family go by the name mcgaul as that was the way it was written on his birth cert.

my father told me it was goal or gaul from memory but i was very young, i thought he said it had an O' insted of a Mc but i cant be sure.

i ghave already loaded my dna to three other sites, i dont no what to do next

i appriciate any help i can get

kathleen

Kathleen,

At rootsireland I found one John born around the time of your John...

John McGarrell
Baptism: 01-Oct-1812 (RI says "day inferred")
RC Parish: COBH
Co. Cork
Father: John McGarrel
Mother: Catherine Mahony
Sponsor: Catherine Hayes, Wm. Butt

I don't know if this is your John, but you might keep him in mind.

hi patricia, yes i saw this one but as i dont know the original  last name i cant be sure its his family,  

kathleen

hi patricia

also i forgot to mention the family were church of england

kathleen

Kathleen,

In Ireland the Church of England is the Church of Ireland. Some of their records are on-line but a lot are not. Plus they lost a lot of early records in the 1922 fire in Dublin so many parishes don’t have any records for the period you need. Finding the family might be hard going.

hi elwyn

thank you for that info. ill keep trying but prob. never find out

kathleen