I am looking for information on my Great-Great Grandfather, Michael O'Brien. He migrated to the United States in April 1863. According to data obtained from my uncle, Michael, was from Ennis, County Clare. Believe his wife's name was Susan Doherty. His wife died before the rest of the family migrated to America. His children were: James (b: 1839), Patrick (b: 1841), Margret (b: 1844), Mary (b:1847), Edward (b: 1849), Bridget (b: 1851), Catherine (1857) and Edmund (b: 1859).
Bill Arnold
Thursday 1st Nov 2012, 08:26PMMessage Board Replies
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Hi
Thank you for your message.
Do you know much about his emigration? The dates, the reason why he left, who he may have travelled with?..etc..Generally more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at (e.g. Liverpool, New York, etc.), this could be a good place to find more information.
If you haven't already - You could try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp
or the later Griffith's Valuation (1848-64) http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/
or the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) https://familysearch.org/ for Michael & his relatives.Failte Romhat has lots of other useful links you could try looking at ). www.failteromhat.com
Church records may be of some use to you. Most Catholic records are held locally - One site which might be of use is - http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/ - where you can ?browse? an overview of available records per county. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for possible assistance.Church of Ireland parish registers for the period up to 1870-are public records. Registers are available for about one third of the parishes, however many were destroyed in the Public Records Office in Dublin in 1922. Most are still held by the local clergy, although some are in the National Archives of Ireland and others are in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. A list of all surviving registers is available in the National Archives. http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/.
The Clare County Library is an excellent resource for genealogy & local history. You can look at their online information here:
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/genealog.htmRemember 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.Please be patient - as our programme has only begun to rollout across the island of Ireland and volunteers in some areas may not yet be organized.
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
Ireland Reaching OutTuesday 18th Dec 2012, 12:06PM