Genealogy Family History for All

Let Genealogy Help You Find your long lost Invisible Irish Relatives

Invisible relatives may pertain to those people who are difficult to find or are hidden relatives perhaps. A relative can be considered missing if he or she does not appear even in one of the volume of records containing your family’s history. Detailed information of your invisible relative can be hard to uncover. You don’t probably suspect that he or she exists before you begin your research.

You need to know some of the reasons why such things happen.

- Women are most often categorized as invisible relatives. Keep in mind that women didn’t have legal identities of their own in many countries. They are not regularly mentioned in community records. In Ireland, property was rarely registered in the name of a woman from 18th to 19th century. When registration of civil marriages took place in 1865, only the father’s name of both couples is listed.

- If family members disapprove a relationship, thinking that it can bring disgrace to their family, they hide it consciously. For example, a widow who wanted to marry again but her children are all grown up.

- It runs in the tradition of the Irish, they always want to portray the best face and feet forward. They omit sad memories from the tales about their family. Thus, infants and young children who are already dead were never mentioned again. 

- Some common records used in genealogy research are incomplete. The contents have entirely missed important things about the person. Maybe, they failed to anticipate that the latest generation would likely want to know about their origins.  Some census in the U.S has this problem. Former spouses were never mentioned on the record as well as the date of immigration until 1900.

So, some Irish who are just starting to find their genealogy can face a lot of challenges. It is advisable not to rely much on what they find on the written records. However, any piece of information is important to help you in your research. No matter how small the information is, you can unravel many things once you dig deeper.

Never assume that the norms in the 20th and 21st century made sense 50, 100, or 100 years ago. Try to learn and understand that norms vary according to time and place. Considering all the records (both Irish and American) are helpful in solving the jigsaw puzzles of your life, in case your family already migrated in the U.S. This process is also similar in other countries.

There are factors that you should concentrate on when finding an invisible Irish relative. Checking the  census can be effective in finding the persons who are related to the one you are looking for. Another is to learn some significant traditions associated with the place. For example, in Ireland, the naming tradition is very popular. Irish men name their oldest son after their grandfather. If the person is already married, then search for the marriage record. Take note, during the 1860, divorce is not favored in Ireland. So, better check for death records also in case the name changed.

Finally, be patient as your research progresses. After all, it is worthwhile to embrace your origin again and find the missing part of your life.

Probably the most expensive option for you to use is that of hiring a professional genealogist.  These individuals are likely to provide you with the highest quality results, if you select one that is responsible, experienced and dedicated to providing the information to you.

Hiring a professional to do this work for you is a good idea, especially if you find yourself at a road block.  Yet, it is essential that you do your homework to find someone that is willing and capable of providing you with the information that you need.  There are, unfortunately, many organizations that are only looking for a payday rather than looking to help you to put together your family’s story.

Find out what history that professional offers.  What has he done for others?  What is the farthest back he or she has been able to go for other families?  In addition to this, you want to know how it will happen.  Where will they gather additional information, how will they do more than you did and what can you expect to learn from what you are offering them? 

In getting this information, you should also make sure that the professional will be providing you with an accurate family tree.  For example, it makes no benefit to you to be filled with inaccurate information, and since you likely have no way of knowing if it’s authentic, you need an upfront guarantee. 

Getting references for those that you employ and then understanding what they really can offer you is essential.  Make sure to check them out with the Better Business Bureau or similar organizations as well.

Family Tree Software

There are two types of genealogical software that you can purchase.  By far the most is that which will help you to store, organize and later display the family tree information that you determine.  This type of software is a benefit especially when a paper like tree would be too much to keep organized. 

The other type of software available is that which can help you to find your family tree members.  Some of this family tree software is only basic in what it can offer, some is much more thorough.  Although not nearly as beneficial as using a professional genealogist, this software can help to point you in the right direction and help you to fill your tree in.

When selecting software for your use with your family tree project, realize that not all software is the same in quality.  One of the best things you can do is to look for reviews of specific programs from the web and from other consumers that have used it.  This will give you the best estimate of the quality and the worth of the software to you.

Using additional resources for your family tree search is important to those that want to go as far as they can with their search.  Not only will it help to do this, but these tools can make organizing and time management of this large project much easier on you.

You have two options.  First off, you can use just paper and your notes to create your family tree, which will look like a tree with all of its branches.  But, this is hard to keep organized and can be a good tool if it is used correctly and managed. 

The other option that you have is Family Tree Software products which can help you to determine an effective, electronic method of managing your family tree.  In a later chapter we will talk more about how software can aid you in the process of uncovering your family tree.  Its important, though to consider it as a tool for organization if not for finding your family members.

Placing the names of those people that you have learned about on your family tree is a process that requires a good eraser.  It will be fun to put the pieces together, but it will also be difficult to organize. 

Tips For Managing Your Family Tree

These tips will help you to get your family tree up and running.  Your goal is to do the best that you can to keep it organized, so that it is easy for you to use later.

Group each person by the family that they belong to.  If they have more than one connection, place these families near each other, and show their relation.

Group families by how they are related.  If the two men are brothers, note this.  Determine how each family relates to each other and note it.

Sometimes, using index cards can help you to keep large families organized.  Even for those that are alive, create an immediate family index card, which includes the family, members, dates of birth and location that you can refer to later, over and over again.

Place blank spots near those people that you haven’t found.  For example, if you find out that there’s a sister to one of your cousins that you don’t know their name, mark that there is a sister.  Later you may find their name and information.

Every once in a while, go back to the beginning of the project and see if there are any blanks that you can fill in.  Often, you can learn a lot without realizing it.

It also pays to include others in this information that you’ve found.  For example, if you are working on your genealogy project with your sister or aunt, when they see your family tree laid out, they may remember some additional information from the information that you have gathered.  This information is important to gather.

The process of learning about your family is likely to be one that offers several key searches.  You’ll use a wide range of these methods to get to the answers you need.

Types of relationships among your family members will include kinship to various groups or associations.

A surname search is called a one name study which will only give you details about a certain family name, passed down over time.

A small community, village or even church parish may offer help in the research methods.  This also includes a one place study, which is just a search of on location’s family lines.

Or, you can use a particular person to search for, for example trying to use your family’s history to connect to another person’s family.

The truth is that you’ll likely need to go through many of these methods to find the answers that you need.  In many ways, it’s a process of looking where you didn’t know you needed to look for answers regarding your family.

Even if your family doesn’t have any known connection to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known as LDS, you may still be able to use their records to help you to learn about your family.

During the 1900’s, this group worked hard to create a program of moving all of their available records on ancestry into the valuable tool of microfilm.  They placed all records they had in this medium, to safeguard them.  In addition to this, they also created an index that was used to keep track of all of their members.

These two undertakings were large, thorough and would become one of the best tools for genealogical searches today.  Today, these two projects have been folded together and are in two databases that are readily accessible. 

The International Genealogical Index, which is known as IGI, is a tool that can be used.  It is a transcription record of filmed civil and ecclesiastic records.  These records have come from various locations from cooperating local areas around the world. 

The other database that you can use is known as the Ancestral File or just simply AF.  This database is used to collect the information about the member’s contributions over time.

So, how can these databases help you?  First off, the IGI is one of the best records of old birth and marriage records from the LDS.  It has records of those that have been born, died and married starting from well back to 1500.  Most of this information is from the United States, Europe and Canada. 

Generally, information regarding members has been able to reveal quite a bit about family ancestry from these resources.

How can you use the LDS’s collection of information?  In Salt Lake City, Utah the collection of these microfilms is located.  The resources are located at the Family History Library which has a vast collection of information regarding the entire society. 

Yet, you don’t have to travel there to find them.  There are branches (some 4000 of them) around the country and world that can offer you help.

You can visit these locations, request information or even rent information for your on site research needs.  In fact, they have expanded this search ability to the internet as well.  You can visit the collection at this location at FamilySearch.org.

The 1911 UK Census is now available Online Only, you can register Here, This is not an affiliate site and I receive No Payment whatsoever for directing traffic to it.

If you need help in tracing your Family Tree I can thoughly recomend this Book!

If you want to find out about your relatives who lived in Canada in the years 1901 or 1911 the Automated Genealogy website is for you. This particular website contains comprehensive information about people who lived in Canada during the years 1901 and 1911.

A lot of people who have Canadian ancestry are curious about their family’s past. If you are one of these people then the Automated Genealogy website is for you. In this website you will find your Canadian ancestors who migrated, born and lived in Canada in the years 1901 and 1911. However you have to consider that this website is made by volunteer who are working very hard to complete the 1901 and 1911 census and put it in their database. In the 1901 census alone, there are over 5.6 million lines. As you can see, it can take quite a while to complete the entire database and put it in the website.

The genealogists working with the Automated Genealogy website works very hard to find all the documents about the people who lived in Canada in 1901 and 1911. You should consider the fact that a lot of people migrated during these two years and if you think that your ancestors lived in Canada during these years and want to find out more about the lineage of your family, then you should consider using this website. It’s free and they made links to original documents for viewing. The interface is also easy to use for your convenience.

Some people even testified that they found out about their great grandmother’s sister and her spouse after only a few seconds upon arriving in the website and searching. Here you will find marriage, death, migration and even birth documents that is both easy to find and also easy to read.

The volunteers here are also developing other census, such as the 1906 census of Canada, 1872 Kings County census and even the Canadian soldiers of World War I. They made the site easy to understand that even people who knows only a little about genealogy can understand how to search for their Canadian ancestors. You should consider that this website is relatively new and the researchers and genealogists along with the website developers involved are still improving the website and completing their data gathering efforts to provide quality services for their visitors.

So, if you are interested in knowing about your Canadian past, or if you think you have ancestors living in Canada and want to know more about your long lost extended family, you should consider exploring the Automated Genealogy website. If you are successful with your search, you may even organize a family reunion where every member of your family can exchange stories about your long lost relatives and know more about what’s become of your family.

Indeed, finding out about your family can be fun. With the Automated Genealogy, you can be sure that you will find your ancestors who lived in Canada in 1901 and 1911.