When Did You First become interested in Irish Family History?

Céad Míle Fáilte – and welcome to your Letter from Ireland for this week. It’s a little seasonally uncool here in County Cork at the moment – but no complaining as long as that sun keeps shining on these long summer days of ours! How are things in your part of the world today?

I’m sipping on a cup of Barry’s tea as I write and I do hope you’ll join me now with a cup of whatever you fancy as we start into today’s letter.

Here on the Letter from Ireland, I’m surrounded by readers with an interest in their own Irish family history. They include many experienced amateur family historians and quite a few professional genealogists as well. However, I don’t know of anybody who put up a hand in school to declare that some day they wanted to be an accomplished genealogist – somehow most of us followed a different career path (or two) before following a curiosity and “falling into” family history research.

I’d like to share the story of one such person today. Maybe you’ll notice some similarities with your own journey.

When did you first become interested in Irish Family History?

Jayne McGarvey has been working with us as a genealogist on the Letter from Ireland and over in the Green Room (alongside Pam Holland, our US based genealogist) for almost nine years. During that time we have had an opportunity to view Jayne’s research methods, work ethic and sheer enthusiasm first hand. She has also become a very good friend of ours along the way.

From her home in County Down, she has managed to answer almost 10,000 Irish family history questions in the Green Room – and we have all had the good fortune to see many brick walls crumbling and member successes along the way as a result of Jayne’s guidance to different individuals.

So, we thought we’d turn the tables today on Jayne and ask her just how SHE became first interested in Irish family History.

So, here we go – enjoy.

Mike: Can you tell me more about the surnames in your own family tree?

Jayne: My family history research is a constant work-in-progress! Some of my Irish lines go back to the late 1600s, while other lines meet a brick wall in the early 1800s due to insufficient documentary proof. The surnames in my family are Bulla, McClean, Connolly, Picken, Houston, Hanna, McCloy, Orr, McCullough, Murphy and Rutherford

…all hailing from various counties in Ulster.

Mike: How did you become interested in Genealogy – and why decide to pursue it professionally?

Jayne: I always had an interest in family history. I can remember plaguing my father with family questions. He was just not interested. “He/She is dead” was the normal response. End of conversation!

Occasionally, he would dispense a tidbit here, or a story there.  As a result I dabbled secretively for years. I started researching but then stopped researching – you see life just got in the way.  I started from a position of not even knowing any of my grandparents’ names. 

But I was fortunate to have a background of research and analysis, book-keeping, procedure writing and auditing. These were practical transferrable skills for a life in genealogy research. 

So I began to put facts together, to follow leads, and discover techniques to get past brick walls. I often got side-tracked and spent time investigating areas that caught my interest – exploring the vast array of Irish record collections – reading, learning and analysing information as I went. 

My knowledge grew over time and I started to help others. I connected with distant family members as I worked my own lines backwards and forwards.  I traded research with them on shared family lines as well as photographs of which I had none.  I started to make more contacts, to spend more time researching for other people and getting to know several professional researchers along the way.

I had more requests for information and research help than I could do for free – so that encouraged me to move into genealogical research both professionally and full-time.  It is said if you do a job you love you will never work again. I found that I loved genealogy research – both the family history and historical social context fascinate me.  I consider myself privileged and it’s an honour to help someone uncover information and for them to go on to solve family mysteries that may have lasted for generations.

Mike: What is the most rewarding assignment you have completed? 

Jayne: It involved the loss of a paying client! I received an email from a potential client whose husband had unsuccessfully searched for Irish family for over 20 years.  This lady, Mary, had a very small budget and a very long wish list. She was given my name by another researcher who was aware I had researched the place and surname for which she was looking. She approached me to see if I could do anything with her tiny budget. 

I looked at the names and dates provided, and realised that she was a long lost cousin of mine! So, she moved from being a potential client to a relative and friend. Since then I have researched other sides of her family, answered many of her questions, and been able to put her in touch with distant cousins.

Mike: What tips would you give to someone tracing their ancestors in Ireland?

Jayne: I will start by saying “don’t give up”!  Irish research can be frustrating, but very rewarding. Then:

• Aim to narrow down to the townland and Parish of your ancestor’s origin in Ireland. 
• If you can’t find the information out about your direct ancestor, widen the search to include siblings, cousins, etc. If all else fails track your ancestor’s Irish neighbours, search other families with the same and similar names.
• Keep individual and family timelines on each person you are researching and break-down your research into bite-size pieces. 
• Keep a research log of everywhere you have looked and everything you have uncovered. 
• Don’t confine your research to Ireland – check out world-wide collections.  Make contact with other people searching the same names, same geographic locations and similar dates.  Above all, don’t get hung up on the spelling of names (sound out names in your head phonetically and watch out for nicknames). 
• The more information you can build on your ancestor’s life, working backwards in time in their place of immigration, the higher the chance of being able to identify the facts that are relevant to YOUR ancestor. 
• Understand your ancestor’s educational and social status, their religion, their employment. This context will help ensure that you are looking for records in the right place.
• Where possible get copies of original documentation – not just transcripts.
• Take a DNA test.

Mike: You mention DNA Testing. Is it making a difference to Irish family history research?

Jayne: As more people take a DNA test and interpretation techniques improve, it has become an essential (and occasionally shocking) tool in the box. DNA Testing can put distant relatives in touch with one another. Initially it may be difficult, even impossible, to discover the exact genealogical connections but as patterns emerge and combinations of relatives come together to share research I see many people starting to break through brick walls.

Mike: Thanks for that Jayne! We’re delighted to have you here in the Green Room – and look forward to many more years of helping members with their Irish ancestry research!

Jayne: Thanks Mike! The Letter from Ireland and the Green Room are special places with lots of special people. Remember that we’re all in this together!

How about the rest of our readers? When did YOU first become interested in learning more about your Irish Family History? Do let me know.

For Plus members, leave a comment below. Also be sure to check out our free course on “How to research your Irish ancestors” for help following some of the tips Jayne has outlined.

Slán go fóill (Goodbye for now),
Mike.