First time posting to a news group and I hope I'm doing this correctly. If I've messed it up, my apologies. I seem to be at a standstill with my maternal great-grandfather. I know only that he was born in Ireland in 1827and that he came to Ontario in 1855. I have no idea from where in Ireland he came, nor do I know anything of any siblings either he might have had. Any idea where or what I'd do next to try to find more info ? Any insight you could provide would be much appreciated.

emm wrote: > First time posting to a news group and I hope I'm doing this > correctly. If I've messed it up, my apologies. > > I seem to be at a standstill with my maternal great-grandfather. I > know only that he was born in Ireland in 1827and that he came to > Ontario in 1855. I have no idea from where in Ireland he came, nor do > I know anything of any siblings either he might have had. Any idea > where or what I'd do next to try to find more info ? Any insight you > could provide would be much appreciated. Have you found him on any census records in Ontario? When did he die? Have you found his Ontario death certificate/registry? Have you checked local newspapers for obituaries? Did he marry in Ontario and have you seen his marriage registration? All these records may hint at where he came from in Ireland. Ann W.

I'll Try!! Check his marriage and death record, sometimes the place of birth is listed. Check the ships register listings to find the vessel and date of immigration. In some cases the last place of residence is noted. The Irish Times http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm website has listing of family names by county in the 1840's and the number of families of that surname in each county. If your ancestor does not have common name this can eliminate some counties. If his parents were alive when he left, one may be listed in Griffiths Valuation. How does this help? Between the 1600's and 1900's a naming tradition developed in England and Ireland where the first male child was named after the paternal grandfather, the first female after the maternal grandmother, the second children were named after the opposites, the third children after the parents. It is referred to as the Irish Naming Pattern. Many immigrants continued it on this side of the ocean. If it shows up in your family here there is a good chance your grandfather was named after his grandfather who might show up in Griffiths Valuation if he was still living when it was done (1845-1855). You can check this at http://griffiths.askaboutireland.ie/gv4/gv_start.php. Two excellent books on Irish Genealogy sources are Tracing Your Irish Ancestors by John Grenham (3rd Ed.) and Discovering Your Irish Ancestors by Dwight Radford and Kyle Betit. The latter has a good section on Canadian sources. Many Public libraries can get these if available in their networks. "emm" <samiam98@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:a371628e-9dad-45c3-ac11-4004b7790200@f8g2000yqn.googlegroups.com... > First time posting to a news group and I hope I'm doing this > correctly. If I've messed it up, my apologies. > > I seem to be at a standstill with my maternal great-grandfather. I > know only that he was born in Ireland in 1827and that he came to > Ontario in 1855. I have no idea from where in Ireland he came, nor do > I know anything of any siblings either he might have had. Any idea > where or what I'd do next to try to find more info ? Any insight you > could provide would be much appreciated.

http://www.archives.ca/ The National Archives of Canada http://www.inGeneas.com/free/main.html Canadian Immigration Index http://www.genealogie.gc.ca/06/0602_e.html Immigrants at Grosse-Île http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~holdenclan/albans.htm Canadian Border Crossings - St. Alban's Lists http://www.theshipslist.com/Research/canadarecords.htm Research Guide to Canadian Passenger Records http://www.kawartha.net/~jleonard/robinson.htm Peter Robinson Assisted Emigrants to Canada http://www.statcan.ca/english/Subjects/Standard/sgc/1996/1996-sgc-index.htm Geographic Locations in Canada