My great grandfather, Gorge, came to America with his family at the age 3 in 1880 from Ireland. His father told him our real last name but also told him not to let anyone ever know because the Britts were wanting to hunt down our family and wipe us out. He then told my grandfather Fred Dillard. My grandfather took our real last name to his grave. All we know is that we came from Ireland and have Irish/Sweed bloodline. We do not know what our real last name is, the idea that it might have been McDillard has come up but we cannot find any birth records of my great grandfather born in 1877 in Ireland. If anyone has any clues as to who I really am I would soooooooooooo greatly appreciate it. It is sad when you're asked to fill out your geneology or family tree and your the only one in class that can't go back past his grandfather. Please contact me with any clues you might have. My great grandfather Gorge Dillard died at the age of 34 from a heart attack, and many of my uncles and my father have died young from a heart attack, does this run in my family? I don't know cause I do not who my family is except for what I have told you.
Any clues at all will help.
Thank you, Jonathan Dillard
Friday 28th Dec 2012, 07:07AM
Message Board Replies
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Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for your message.
Unfortunately without the correct name it may be very hard to find out information on your family. I ran the names Dillard and McDillard through the irishtimes surname database (this shows all households in Ireland during the mid 19th century with a particular surname) However, no results were returned. Here is the link:
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&UserID=
Have any other variations of the name been used within your family? If so, you can run them through the search engine and hopefully find some results.
Have you looked into your Great grandfathers emigration further? Do you know where they entered the US? Generally more information was given at the port of arrival rather than that of departure. If you knew what city they arrived at it may be a place to find information-and perhaps even an exact place of origin. Do you know who else travelled with them? For immigration information into the US check the NAtional Archives at the following site:
http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/
In order to find out more information on your family it is necessary to know where they came from in Ireland, as most church records are held locally. So in order to know which registers to check in you need to know the parish they originated from. Do you have any documentation pertaining to your great grandfather that mentions any place name?
Are there any family stories as to why Gorge's father was on the run?
Some websites that might help you and give you some other ideas of where to search are:
The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/
The National Library of Ireland http://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 Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm
Family Search: https://familysearch.org/
Irish Genealogy: www.irishgenealogy.ie/index.html
Civil Registration Records: http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm
I hope that this gives you some ideas on where to start your search. Remember to post any new information that you come across as the more information you post the more likely it is that one of our volunteers may be able to assist you.
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
Tuesday 19th Feb 2013, 03:51PM