Hi everyone Me again. I have been doing my homework (well a little anyway) and I seem to be going in circles a bit. I do now know where the family originated from and it will definitely be on my list of must visits :-))) I also am now building up a history of why they left Ireland. When I have searched the Clare Library site, which I agree is wonderful, I am in a little difficulty. The family I am trying to locate would have left Clare in late 1854. The names I have for both Mary Ann FOLEY's parents and Michael Martin COLLINS's parents do appear frequently through the listings, and their siblings christian names. Where would I look to confirm marriages around 1845 and births around 1825. And I am a person who likes to leave a paper trail, so I am looking for concrete (hold in my hand) evidence of marriages, births, deaths etc. Thank you in advance Maria Thomas LAKE MUNMORAH, NSW

Maria, I have the impression that to prevent your quest developing into a goosechase up the wrong tree in a blind alley on a dark night you need some basic pointers to Irish genealogy sources relating to the early- and mid-19th century. Fairly recently on this list Sharon Carberry mentioned two or three manuals of Irish family history which you might like to read. They answer your general questions (marriages around 1845, births around 1825, sources of evidence of evidence of marriages, births, deaths etc). Sharon's list will be in the list archives or maybe Sharon might like to post it again. By the way, you say that the family you are trying to locate would have left Clare in late 1854. Don't let this assumption narrow your research. Close relatives of your emigrés may have remained in Clare and procreated, i.e. you may have quite close living relatives in Clare without your knowing it. To find these people, squeeze as much information as possible out of your Australian family and ethnically close acquaintances. Every little fragment. Interview the elderly before they can no longer be interviewed. Make sound recordings of the interviews because at a later date some little remark which you considered irrelevant and disregarded during the original interview may turn out to be the missing bit in the puzzle. Be persistent and ingenious in your questioning. Anything short of spotlight, rubber truncheons and truth serum. Don't decide that you are too busy for this. By the time you are no longer busy your sources will be dead and you will regret it. I did, believe me. Pádraig (the Paddy that was) -----Original Message----- From: irl-clare-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:irl-clare-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of M & M Thomas Sent: 27 September 2006 08:40 To: IRL-CLARE@rootsweb.com Subject: [IRL-CLARE] FOLEY & COLLINS FAMILY Hi everyone Me again. I have been doing my homework (well a little anyway) and I seem to be going in circles a bit. I do now know where the family originated from and it will definitely be on my list of must visits :-))) I also am now building up a history of why they left Ireland. When I have searched the Clare Library site, which I agree is wonderful, I am in a little difficulty. The family I am trying to locate would have left Clare in late 1854. The names I have for both Mary Ann FOLEY's parents and Michael Martin COLLINS's parents do appear frequently through the listings, and their siblings christian names. Where would I look to confirm marriages around 1845 and births around 1825. And I am a person who likes to leave a paper trail, so I am looking for concrete (hold in my hand) evidence of marriages, births, deaths etc. Thank you in advance Maria Thomas LAKE MUNMORAH, NSW ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL-CLARE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message