Which John is mine?
- moughty
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Yes, I know…it’s been a while (a long while) since I posted a blog. I was happy that I managed to keep up with 52 weeks longer than I have in the past, but then it fell apart in April. Life seemed to get away from me. I’ve been working on digitizing my seven file cabinets, preparing for a move in the Fall of ’26. My husband and I went on a cruise of the UK and Ireland, and both got sick. Even after we got home, it took a while to get back to normal. Then my brother-in-law died suddenly. It’s called life.
I just passed my 18th blogaversary the end of July. Other than blogging my family (I’m currently working on my husband’s Daly and Martin lines preparing for a trip back to Ireland in October) I’ve had trouble coming up with topics. I encourage readers to send me ideas (crickets), but I just got an email from a member of the Irish SIG I run for the Manatee Genealogical Society. Her question was about identifying her ancestor among the many individuals of the same name...a problem most of us have. Irish naming patterns exacerbate this problem. Just to review:
1st son after paternal grandfather
2nd son after maternal grandfather
3rd son after father
For females the pattern is similar
1st daughter after maternal grandmother
2nd daughter after paternal grandmother
3rd daughter after mother
This pattern is not carved in stone however, and you may see deviations, especially if everyone is named John and Mary! You also might see multiple children with the same name, which probably means the earlier child of that name died. The death of a beloved relative might also change the order.
Families tended to live in the same area for generations so if John (the son of James) had five sons, the next generation could be expected to have up to five James’. Multiply this for each new generation, and you can see the problem.
OK, so that’s a bit about why. How do you address this problem? You need to identify the locality where your ancestor lived in Ireland, and by that I mean more than just the County...you're trying to find the Townland or at least the Parish. If these jurisdictions are unfamiliar to you, refer to this blog. I have a number of blogs that discuss finding a locality in Ireland. But Where in Ireland includes a Case Study on how I found the location of my husband's Daly ancestors. From the top of this page, you can select "Finding a Locality in Ireland from the Menu Bar to see other blogs that cover this topic. If you move your cursor over "More" you'll see a drop down menu with other topics to explore.
Once you know the townland, you can begin to look at specific records. You can differentiate two Michael Dalys from their birth registrations (after 1864) by their townland and parents' names. My Michael Daly was from Crimlin and his parents were Michael and Mary Morally [sic] Daly. The Michael from Killeen was the wrong one.
Now that you've identified the location, it's time to learn about Irish records. The two books I refer to are John Grenham's Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, 5th edition and William Roulston's Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors, 2nd edition. Another place to look is the FamilySearch WIKI.
You may have heard that you can’t do Irish research because all of the records burned. The fire at the Public Records Office in 1922 was devastating…we lost 1000 years of Irish history…but not everything burned. Civil Records of births, marriages and deaths survive from 1864 and Protestant marriages from 1845. Church records will vary with their start date, some as early as the late 1700s, but most after 1820. Unfortunately some don’t start until the 1870s. You need to know when those records start for your location and the information can be found on John Grenham’s website, IrishAncestors. Find the Civil Parish on one of his maps, then select "Research Sources" and "Church Records."Here's an example from the Civil Parish of Rossinver in Leitrim. For Church of Ireland Records that state "Held by the Public Record Office in 1919" that means the records were destroyed in the Fire.
John has a number of videos on YouTube regarding his site. Here is a video on Roman Catholic Parishes which is about 4 months old. He has done a major upgrade to the site, so some of the videos from 4 years ago are out of date. Always check the Church Records list...Don’t waste your time looking for a baptismal record that doesn’t exist! Although a database may be titled “Ireland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1620-1911” there are very few records from 1620 (117) and they are primarily Church of Ireland records from Dublin. Most of the records will be after 1820. If you have checked IrishAncestors and find that records for your locality and denomination don’t start until 1870 this database (which is a legacy database on most commercial sites) is not going to be much help.
I hope this helps you understand the reasons for, and some solutions for researching common names.
Happy Hunting!
Starting your Irish research? Check out my Irish Quick Reference Guides PDF Bundle.
Preparing for Success in Irish Research
Irish Civil Registration and Church Records
Land, Tax and Estate Records in Ireland