Visit in August

Just genealogy Elwyn.

Thanks Elwyn.  I have already filled in my form for PRONI and will have my passport with me.  I didn't realise the Linenhall Library had a genealogical section, so thank you for that.  I shall investigate!  I am also going address hunting with my camera and have marked most of the ones I want on the map. There is only one I haven't yet identified and that is Lagan Court.  No street name was given and, so far, I haven't found it in a directory - but I have time yet to locate it.

Thanks again for your help.

Sheila

Thanks Elwyn.  I thought it was probably associated in some way with Lagan Street.  What a pity they don't list the inhabitants though!  Thanks for the link for Joe Graham.  I will see if he has any photos.  I have found some vintage photos on line but nothing very close.  Trouble is my family seem to have lived in tiny off shoots of roads that don't figure in photos.  Some of the roads are still there but at least one has been redeveloped. I will check the old maps at PRONI though.

Thanks to your previous help I have now got a much better idea of my Dad's family. It seems his original name, Cairns O'Connor, was a mis-spelling of his great grandfather's name, Kearns (Connor at that stage).  I suspect that was once a surname in the family but I can't find Kearns, except on his children's baptism/marriage records.  He would have been born around the 1820s I guess so records are not good.  The brother and two sisters, Patrick, Rose and Ann who were McPoland in Belfast were actually McPolin or Polin in Co Down where they came from.

Yes, I realised that spelling etc was not standardised.  I guess it depended on who wrote up the records - and the accent/clarity of speech of the one giving notice as to what actually ended up in the records. I also suspect that mistakes were made in busy parishes by priests who either thought they knew the family well enough to fill things in without aksing too many questions - and maybe made errors along the way, or didn't know the family and mis-eard what was said.  One of the baptisms in my line is suspect because the sponsor's name is actually the name of the wife and the mother's name is a new one.  There is a note at the bottom of the transcription to say that the names were transcribed as in the register - sounds as though the transcriber thought there might have been a slip-up.

It's a minefield, isn't it!  My present quest is to try and find descendants of my direct ancestors - armed with DNA kits!

That sound great Elwyn.  I will see if I can fit it in.  I guess it depends how much material I manage to dig up in PRONI, the newspaper library and the Linen Hall library.

Just back from Belfast.  For those of you visiting I would like to share with you my experience at Milltown Cemetery.  I found the grave number that I wanted at PRONI and went off to Milltown armed with that.  The office staff could not have been more helpful.  They gave me a map marked with position of the grave and even counted off how many it was in the from the patch and how many rows down.  I set off to find it and the very helpful gardener who was strimming nearby found the grave for me.  I would never have found it alone because there is no marker. (That may change soon once I find out who owns it)  I went back to the office to thank them before I left and, on a hunch, asked if it was a single grave of whether there was anyone else there.  They looked it up for me and were able to fill in another death for me - that doesn't come up on the GRONI site, despite the fact that is is relatively recent (1944)

Sheila, so happy for you that your visit and discoveries turned out so well!  It's encouraging; I have ancestors from Antrim, but few clues to rely upon.  I'll keep monitoring this site and will hope that you and others keep finding such great resources and tell us all about them!

Amy Patterson O'Keefe

Amy, have you tried the Roots Ireland site?  It might be worth a month's subscription at first to see if they have anything of use to you.  If you find more than you can cope with within the month then either renew for another month or longer.  I have found it very useful.

Sheila

Thanks, Sheila -- that's a very good suggestion!  I appreciate it.

Amy