Irish Update

Long before I became interested in genealogy, my father had been searching for his Irish ancestors.  His great grandparents, Ned Brennan and Mary Fahey Brennan, emigrated from Ireland to the United States in 1861, the year the American Civil War began, but not much is known about whatever family they may have left behind.  Dad knew of one sister of Ned Brennan, Mary, who remained in Ireland, married James Clooney, and raised a family there, but he didn't know anything about Ned and his sister Mary's parents, or if there were any other siblings.  Mary Fahey's widowed mother, sister and brother accompanied her to America, but nothing is known of the family prior to that. Dad even went to Ireland to see what he could find, but there is nothing in his records that shows whether he found anything new. 

Since I have taken over the search, I have gathered much information on Mary Brennan Clooney and her family by searching the 1901 and 1911 Irish census data.  But since that is the only census data available to genealogists (all census information prior to that, and some after that, burned in a 1922 fire in the public records building as a result of a revolution in Ireland, or was destroyed intentionally by the Irish government for a variety of reasons.)  So during the time that my ancestors would have lived in Ireland there are no census records. 

There is one "census substitute" which was a survey of land ownership and tenancy called "Griffith's Valuation" conducted in the early 1850s for the entire country.  The names of all landowners (mostly English citizens) and their tenants (heads of household only) are recorded in this survey.  There are also records in some Roman Catholic parishes of baptisms, marriages and deaths, but there are huge gaps in the records.  For some reason, the records in Irish churches were not well maintained, which combined with the destruction of census records, makes genealogical research in Ireland nearly impossible. 

About five weeks ago, I contacted a genealogical service in Ireland to ask them to do a preliminary search to see if there were any other existing records that might be used to find any Brennans or Faheys in Queen's County (renamed County Laios after Ireland became independent from Britain) around the time my ancestors emigrated, as well as in the decades prior to their departure.  I just received their report, and the picture isn't hopeful. 

They did list a few more places they could look for information, so I will probably commission them to look further.  And I am waiting for some mircorfilm to be delivered to the local Mormon church from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.  Within a few days I may be able to search myself in the registers of Roman Catholic churches in the area where my ancestors lived.  In the meantime, I remain in contact with a third cousin in Ireland, a descendant of Mary Brennan Clooney, and keep hoping that he will uncover a lost family Bible, or remember some piece of information he heard from his grandparents that might lead somewhere.

I know my father's ancestors lived in Ireland for hundreds if not thousands of years, and it is incredibly frustrating to be unable to find out anything about them.  I am holding onto hope that my researchers in Ireland may find some small key that could open what now seems like a locked door. Whether or not that happens, I know I want to visit Ireland soon.  If I can't know more specifics about my family, at least I can walk where they once walked, see the land they once called home, and imagine what life was like for them hundreds of years ago.