Seeking help decendants of Peter Ferrie Donegal

Hi Kate, 

Do you know much about their emigration? Dates, the reason why they left, etc.? Generally more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at (e.g. Liverpool), this could be a good place to find more information, and perhaps even find out an exact place of origin. Have you checked the immigration records in Australia? Generally, more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. The University of Woolongong has produced, on microfiche, a complete index and transcript of all information concerning immigrants of Irish origin recorded on ships' passenger lists between 1848 and 1867. These are useful for finding out an exact place of origin as well as parents' names. The Public Record Office of Victoria has good online databases of settlers at www.prov.vic.gov.au Otherwise, other records may be found in the Colonial Office Papers of the UK National Archives, class reference CO 201. This class contains a wide variety of records, including petitions for assisted passages, emigrants' lists, records of emigrants on board ship, petitions from settlers for financial assistance and much more. Shipping manifests can sometimes be checked. 

You can check for information about the frequency of the name in the mid-19th century in Ireland, the areas in which it was most prominant and any other variant spellings of the name here: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/ .

If you have information regarding Peter's parents you could try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) or the later Griffith's Valuation (1848-64). The Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38): Microfilm copies of the books for all of Ireland are available at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/tithe-applotment-books-and-the-primary-griffith-valuation/ or the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) https://familysearch.org/ . Griffith's is freely available here: www.askaboutireland.com or here: www.failteromhat.com Failte Romhat has lots of other useful links you could try looking at.

The Irish Genealogy database for Donegal is available at http://donegal.rootsireland.ie/ for a fee. 

I wish you the best of luck with your search. 

Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

Kind regards,

Cynthia O'Connor

Genealogy Support

Ireland Reaching Out