Thomas seemed to disappear after his birth. He is not recorded on the 1901 Irish census. There is no good match for him in England either. This made me suspect that he had emigrated. I spent a lot of time scanning passenger lists. Hours were spent on the census returns in the USA. In June…
All posts tagged Roscommon
Irish Petty Sessions
In order to access all possible records, it would be necessary to take out a lot of subscriptions to a great number of websites. The cost will exceed £500 per annum. I have switched providers more than once. All of the major providers are adding to their collections. If you have not looked at a…
Death of John Stanley (b 1825)
There are some surprising records online these days. You can look at dog licenses. A dog license had to be renewed every year. This provides some way of tracking people. The normal caveat applies: absence of information does not imply information about absence, merely that information may have disappeared. Some court records have been published.…
The Great Famine
In almost every country in the world, there are events that are central to the collective memory. Examples include the release from prison of Nelson Mandela (1990), the death of Diana, Princess of Wales (1997), the attack on Pearl Harbour (1941) and the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989). These events act as a pivot…
They are all called John
Another researcher suggested that publishing a family tree would be helpful. This is a very sensible idea. But do I publish one tree or many? The picture shows what appears to be multiple trees. However, there is an interconnected root system. In practice it is a single organism., covering over 100 acres. The challenge for…
Three maps
Overview Intermediate view Close up
Ellen Kenny connections
Ellen married John Stanley in 1884. (Three of their children were born in New St. Dewsbury) I looked forward to 1891 to see what happened to other members of her family. Her brother James E Kenny (aged 16 by this time) is lodging with Edward and Bridget Shiel who are Irish. This couple can be…
More Stanley people in New St Dewsbury
In my endeavours to make sense of the family tree, I have followed leads in all directions. As the golfer Gary Player observed, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” I am not sure if it was inspiration, perspiration or blind luck, but I came across the following 1901 census entry. The head of…
What sort of place is Roscommon (2)?
I need to reiterate that I am referring to County Roscommon in the middle of Ireland, and not the one in the USA. On a visit in May 2014 I took a lot of photographs. Many of these will appear in these blogs in due course. One is shown below. In the earlier blog “What…
What sort of place is Roscommon?
The first thing to establish is that I am referring to County Roscommon in the middle of Ireland. There is another one in Michigan, USA. County Roscommon has an area of 1022 square miles. The population (2016) was 64,544. I live in Staffordshire in the middle of England. It has an area of 1047 square…