Oakum Picker
03-02-12, 08:25
We often hear on Forums such as this about institutions (often Irish) that require a fairly substantial sum up front to look for records, only to come back with no information so I thought it only fair to mention when the reverse happens.
My husband has been searching for 12 years for details of his gm, a woman he knew well as a young man - she died in 1970. Sorry, forgot to mention that he's Irish. He found her marriage in Civil Records to his gf but a real bonus, or so he thought was the church entry which gave both of her parents names. He then spent many hours over several months at the LDS poring over the Indexes but there was no sign of her birth or birth, marriage or death of the parents.
We jump forward a few years to the release of the Irish 1901 census & he finds someone listed under a diminutive of her first name, living in a children's home in Dublin. Nothing positive but his 'gut feeling' was that it was her. Googling the name of the home gave him a lot of background information on the Institution but that was that.
He's had a little break from Family History as those of you with Irish ancestors know, Irish research is difficult. Last week he googled the home again & found a message from someone in Australia who also had an ancestor in the home. This person had found the name of a Trust which dealt with this home & had received a lot of help from them.
At the beginning of the week an email was sent to the Trust with the details he had of his grandmother. The reply wasn't encouraging - the index showed that this child had completely different parents names from the ones given. Knowing how things can be badly indexed he asked if there was anything else to look at as he still felt this was his gm. The kind lady agreed to go to the Archive & look for the file. Yesterday she replied & emailed photocopies of the documents in the file. Most of the information still did not agree with my husband's but in the file were 3 letters from his gm in her married name giving the proof needed that this was indeed the correct child. Needless to say, hubbie is over the moon that he has new avenues open to him.
His gm made up all the names. She was buried as Cathlyn Marion, her name was Kate. She said her parents were Hugh & Edith Marion, they were Thomas & Emily. No wonder they couldn't be found. At no time was money mentioned but my husband has sent a gift.
My husband has been searching for 12 years for details of his gm, a woman he knew well as a young man - she died in 1970. Sorry, forgot to mention that he's Irish. He found her marriage in Civil Records to his gf but a real bonus, or so he thought was the church entry which gave both of her parents names. He then spent many hours over several months at the LDS poring over the Indexes but there was no sign of her birth or birth, marriage or death of the parents.
We jump forward a few years to the release of the Irish 1901 census & he finds someone listed under a diminutive of her first name, living in a children's home in Dublin. Nothing positive but his 'gut feeling' was that it was her. Googling the name of the home gave him a lot of background information on the Institution but that was that.
He's had a little break from Family History as those of you with Irish ancestors know, Irish research is difficult. Last week he googled the home again & found a message from someone in Australia who also had an ancestor in the home. This person had found the name of a Trust which dealt with this home & had received a lot of help from them.
At the beginning of the week an email was sent to the Trust with the details he had of his grandmother. The reply wasn't encouraging - the index showed that this child had completely different parents names from the ones given. Knowing how things can be badly indexed he asked if there was anything else to look at as he still felt this was his gm. The kind lady agreed to go to the Archive & look for the file. Yesterday she replied & emailed photocopies of the documents in the file. Most of the information still did not agree with my husband's but in the file were 3 letters from his gm in her married name giving the proof needed that this was indeed the correct child. Needless to say, hubbie is over the moon that he has new avenues open to him.
His gm made up all the names. She was buried as Cathlyn Marion, her name was Kate. She said her parents were Hugh & Edith Marion, they were Thomas & Emily. No wonder they couldn't be found. At no time was money mentioned but my husband has sent a gift.