My husband's ancestor was Margaret Keenan. She was married in Wadhurst, Sussex, England on 13th August 1850 to Thomas Husher from that area. She was described as a minor. Her father was given as John Keenan, a farmer. In the 1851 census, still in Sussex she describes herself as born 1831 in Ireland. By 1861 she is calling herself Margaritta, born 1833 in Queen's County, Ireland. In 1871 she again says she was born in Ireland in 1833. She and Thomas had many children one of whom was Arthur Thomas Husher who was born on 8th April 1866. On his birth certificate she is described as formerly Thompson! I'm not sure if this is an error in writing the record or whether the Keenan family were also known as Thompson. I'm afraid I have no more information about her as after she was widowed in 1877 she has 'disappeared' and I haven't found a record of her death. I'm afraid I don't know which parish in Laois that she came from but although it's a long shot I thought I would enquire in case one of your members is familiar with this family.
susan_wicks
Tuesday 12th Feb 2013, 06:32PMMessage Board Replies
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The first place to start your search is in your own home - talk to elders in the family - find out abouttheir parents, grandparents etc. Perhaps they have a story of one of your ancestors?Things to enquire about include: occupations, places of residence, who they were living with(people often stayed with others from their home villages after emigration), siblings & other familymembers, first names (important -as usually past from father to son/mother to daughter) ages attime of emigration, possible dates of birth/death, religious denominations. Also ask if there are anysurviving photographs, old documents or letters - record all the information you can find. The next thing you could do is find the counties and places in Ireland your family names are mostprevalent. Look at the website http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/ and perhapssomething will match some other clue you may have found elsewhere? If nothing turnsup ? it is advisable to try different variations of the spellings of the names. If you have a possiblefirst name you could try the Irish Census 1901, 1911 at www.census.nationalarchives.ie/ or the landvaluation record called Griffiths Valuationhttp://askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml i have a list of websites to that you can have a look on sir good luck in your seach. The National Archives of Irelandhttp://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/ The National Library of Irelandhttp://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx The National Archives UK ? genealogy search:http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/ The Public Records Office of Northern Irelandhttp://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm Irish Newspaper Archives:http://www.irishnewsarchive.com/
Thursday 4th Apr 2013, 10:47AM