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We will be in Cork from Dec.28-January 2. I would love to reasearch the Ryan side of my family. Do you have any suggestions where I may begin.

Thank you so much

Jean Nicholson

Tuesday 29th Nov 2011, 12:33PM

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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. Write/telephone other members of your family to check details -perhaps they can remember otherfacts about your ancestors? Hopefully when you have done this - some clues will emerge! After youhave identified the emigrant- begin tracing the steps back to Ireland. Do you know much about their emigration? The dates, the reason why they left, who they mighthave travelled with..etc.? Generally more information was given at the port of arrival rather than theport of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at (e.g. Liverpool, Ellis Island), this could be agood place to find more information, and perhaps even find out an exact place of origin. Shippingmanifests can be checked ?which may lead to more clues. 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

    Thursday 4th Apr 2013, 09:17AM
  • Looking for any information on Michael Ryan, possible birthdate May 1868. Possible port of entry Boston Ma. around 1886. Settled in Providence R.I. , U.S,A. Married Bridget Feely1896. Any information is appreciated.

    Sunday 5th May 2013, 10:33PM

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