Hello From New York City, USA. I am looking to trace me Irish Family.

Hi Christopher

The best place for you to start is with your family by asking the oldest members what they know and can remember.  Sometimes looking back through old photo albums is a good way to bring back memories.  You are looking for names, dates and places starting with your grandparents.  Who are they?  When and where did they marry?  Who were their parents and siblings?  When and where were they born?  Then do the same for your grandparents siblings and parents and then the next generation back and so on.  You are also looking for family stories that might hold clues to your family history.

When possible get the birth, marriage and death certificates for your parents and grandparents as these will confirm the details you have been given and help bring you back another generation.  Once you know a bit more you can post details here such as the names and dates of the people you believe travelled from Ireland.

I hope that helps you get started and look forward to you posting again.

All the best.

Linda Magee

Kildare Town Parish Liaison

Christopher,
Linda Magee is giving you great advice.

Remember, start with you, fill in the blanks for birth, marriage, education, etc. and then decide to start on your mother's side or father's side. You want to find Birth, Marriage, and Death place and date, if applicable. Add the siblings for each parent and then the parents information - again, Birth, Marriage, and Death places and dates.

I am assuming your parents (and possibly one or more of your grandparents) were born in the NYC area. If so... Once you get the places and dates of the B, M, D's, you may go to www.stevemorse.org and scroll halfway down the page and look for the certificate number to have a source of the information you have been told.

If you live in the NYC area, you then go to the Municipal Archives at 31 Chambers St in Manhattan with the certificate numbers and look (or purchase) the certificates for each B, M, and D's. Do the same for your grandparents. If your grandparents were born in Ireland, look for their marriage certificates and possible death certificates for location of birth. Might have it or it might just say :Ireland."

Keep a list of what you have looked at so that you don't spend time repeating yourself looking at the same records.

At your local library, they probably have a subscription to Ancestry. Get on to the Ancestry site and check out the names of your parents and grandparents. You will find out a lot of info there. There is so much more to tell you, but this should start you out. Census records give a lot of information too!

Remember too, if the county in Ireland is not stated on a NYC marriage certificate, you might want to look at your grandparents siblings to see what their records will say. Or burial records or headstones might have the name of the place where they are from in Ireland. Of course, you can always check WWI, WWII, and naturalization papers on Ancestry.

Most of the Irish in the NYC area are buried in Calvary in Queens, Holy Cross in Brooklyn, or St. Raymond's in the Bronx. You might want to try www.findagrave.com to check those cemeteries to see where your grandparents/their siblings are buried also. There are 3 National Cemeteries in the NYC area for men that served in the Armed Forces also.

I know this sounds like a lot to research, but as I said... just start with one of your parents and stick with him/her. You don't want to get overwhelmed with it and that's easy to do if you go all over the place. We are all here to help if you have any questions. Good luck to you!