Ancestry History & Heritage 1.57

YOUR Roots! Where did we come from?
Our Mothers & Fathers families - Where are they now?

Are You “ONE” of the Millions of People worldwide who can claim to be Irish or have Irish forebears?

If you are coming to the Emerald Island of Ireland for a holiday / vacation / visit (even for a weekend) why not visit the location of your forebears.

If you are coming to Western Europe or the UK why not do some family tracing. You can arrange local flights to Ireland from UK, France, in fact most European country's and can be had for very low costs most of the year around - Air fares of €19 to €40 "one way" is very commonplace.

A minimum of planning is required for a short visit but let us discuss the planning needs with you.

You may have completed substantial research into your family yourself but we will then have to further evaluate the amount of work involved so as to give you the best service that we can provide.

A GENEALOGY VACATION - If you are not sure that you are of Irish descent but suspect that there may be Irish in your blood line and need some direction just call or email.

If you have done some research yourself with or without the involvement of other family members who may have encouraged you to get involved then that is great and helpful.

We can do Research, Advise, Search & follow-up.

Personally I have put many hours into tracing my own roots and I live here in Ireland. However the cost per part of each stage of my project was reasonable and easy to manage because it was by small costs spread over time which is the way I wanted to do it.

Family trees are always expanding as new links are continuously being discovered, developed and found. It is likely that you may take back the task of investigating more and more of it yourself as time goes on but we will be there to assist as required.

We will continue to be a source of encouragement and support for you for as long as you continue to use our services irrespective of whether you would like to progress it yourself or use services that we can suggest to you. We encourage you to interface with other followers as you continue.

MY BACKGROUND - I have worked for international companies all my working life. I have run my own businesses. I continue to Lecture in 3rd Level Colleges in Engineering and Management.
Since I have become semi–retired I have worked on my own family tree. I have put many years into learning how to do this type of project and I have vast knowledge on how to do such research. I have a wide range of experience to pass on to others who would like to do their own research into their own family history or perhaps for those who would like the services to do this research for them.

It is time consuming but a very enjoyable task!

I have decided to offer the use of my services and experience to other people who may be trying to develop "The Family Tree". I hope to simplify your projects by using me as a vehicle to further the task. In this way I can pass on ideas and information to others at a very reasonable cost, to all involved.

Have you found YOUR MOST RECENT IRISH ANCESTER?
Remember the spelling of Irish family names were changed in many different ways and for many differing reasons. This is mainly because of the wide-spread use of the Irish language in the mid 1700 to mid 1800 and poor understanding of the spelling of old Irish names by non-Irish speakers (normally English newcomers).

Some of the native Irish people were well educated but others were not, mainly due to the fact that education was denied under the Penal Laws and the lack of good government from London. All of this contributed greatly to different name-making; being creative with spellings mainly to suit record keeping and to record the "provision of people" to fill the "manpower" requirements of the New World. Being sent to "Van Demons Land", 12000 miles away, as a penalty for small crime of taking items of food to feed a starving family was one of the penalty's imposed on Mothers, Children, Fathers and leaving family's behind - never to come back was common practice. People were used in a slave like manner to be used as the machinery of the business giants and magnates and the massive land barons of America, Australia, and many other parts of the Empires of the planet. The British Empire was not the only culprit in these acts,

A lot of the native Irish used the educated clergy to read and write letters, etc. Due to the Penal Laws, local Roman Catholic Clergy, some Protestant Groups and others who fell outside the Church of England, were banned and life was made very difficult for them to continue their religious teachings, burials, and other religious duties. The result is that there are a lot of different name spellings in use around the world and this has to be taken into account when looking for family.

Family names changed in a very big way during the famine times as peoples' names were written by officials who were trying to log the details of people who turned up for “work for food jobs” to feed their starving families. At this period in history Mac was changed in official records to Mc. Ni and O was discarded and many other “un-intentional” changes happened due to variations in pronunciations for the same names from different parts of the country. The use of English being used to write down Gaelic versions of names was another reason why names may differ. When families and individuals emigrated or were forced to emigrate to “far of places”, it was even more difficult to ensure correct spelling of names in all situations. Family names are still changing, even today, when family members do not realise or don’t understand that the name is the person. So when you go to the registrars at local government office, it is essential that any mistakes made by officialdom are corrected accordingly.

The Irish from the earliest of times have been enlisted in the politics and armies of countries and Empires, spread across the world, and especially from the time of the Treaty of Limerick, 1690 - 1691 AD (regarded as a European Treaty). They can be found in the Caribbean; North America: Central America: South America; Canada; United Kingdom; France; Italy; Austria; Russia; Spain; Portugal; Argentina; Chile; Japan; Australia; New Zealand; Africa and many more locations, etc.

The Irish have been sent away from their homeland under the guise of Prisoners, Slaves, Refugees, Out-casts and as Emigrants especially from the 1690’s Treaty of Limerick, which is deemed to be a European Treaty as much as a local Irish / English Treaty (remembered as the broken treaty).

Limerick was remembered as the city of the broken treaty and “Remember Limerick” was the war cry of the Irish Brigade in France after the Treaty of Limerick.

During the 1840’s famine years the population of the country dropped by millions (from 8 million people prior to the 1840’s to 3.5 million people in the late 1950’s.

There is some truth to the feeling that maybe the famine was a blessing for some of the absentee landlords, who were greedy for land, and who might have stood to one side and not helped these familys who were dying from starvation and misery in millions, however, there is also truth that many of the landed class, especially those landlords who worked the land, did help some of the unfortunate people. During that famine many food stuff was exported to the empire as people starved.

Some landlords paid the fairs of these people so as to get them away to the colonies, often into slavery type of situations and away from and out of sight of the local Irish problem.

Some of the ruling classes did not know how to solve the problem and I suppose they thought that they were doing the right thing.