Thomas Carroll was born in County Limerick in about 1828. He is my great-great grandfather. He came to the United States in the early 1850's. He landed at Boston and worked there for a year before moving west. By 1860 he was working on a farm in Fond du Lac County in the state of Wisconsin. In 1862 he married Katie Cronin (originally from County Cork.) They moved to Rantoul, Calumet County, Wisconsin where they had a farm and raised 5 children whose names were Michael, Katie, John, James, and Mary.
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.
Tuesday 7th May 2013, 05:18PM
Message Board Replies
-
Hi,
Thank you very much for your message.
Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find information without a more specific place of origin. Most Irish record sources- church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations. Until you know a specific location within Ireland, preferably a parish or placename, it may be difficult to do anything more with these records.
Do you have any documentation pertaining to the family that mentions any place names at all? This can include wills, marriage/death records,census records, letters, diary entries etc.
There are a couple of places online where you can search for records, however these websites do not have complete collections:
www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.
www.rootsireland.ie have a large collection of Irish Church records, however you have to pay to use this site.
You should also check at: http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/ There are Catholic records from some parts of Cork available here. Hopefully this includes the parish that Katherine was born in. If you can find her birth record here it will give you her parish of origin and her parents names, the names of sponsors etc.
You could also try looking for them or their families in the land records pertaining to Ireland in the 19th century. Thee do not have any genealogical information but can sometimes be used to tie a person to a specific place. There are two:
The Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1838) found at http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp
and Griffith?s Valuation (1848-1864) found at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/
Have you tried looking into the family?s emigration? Sometimes more infomation can be found at the port of arrival rather than that of departure. You may be lucky and find a place name here. For information on US immigration records check http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/
Some other websites that may be helpful 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
Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/index.htm
Genealogy Links Cork: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/cork/index.html
Genealogy Links Limerick: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/limerick/index.html
Ireland Genealogy Projects: http://www.igp-web.com/
Failte Romhat: www.failteromhat.com
Limerick Library: http://www.limerickcity.ie/Library/LocalStudies/
Limerick City Archives: http://www.limerickcity.ie/Archives/
Cork Library: http://www.corkcoco.ie/co/web/Cork%20County%20Council/Departments/Library%20&%20Arts%20Service/Services/Local%20Studies
Hopefully you will find some information on parish of origin for Katherine and Thomas. Once you have this more avenues of research will open up to you. Remember to post as much information as you can with regard to the people you are researching. The more information you post, the more likely it is that one of our volunteers will be able to advise or assist you. Also include information concerning which sources you may have already used so others may further your search.
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
Tuesday 11th Jun 2013, 12:45PM