Hi there, This article was in the Eastman Newsletter so some of you may have seen it. It describes a new product which does have a price, but I think it is worth knowing about it. I have not seen it and am not recommending it of course. The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 2002 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. - CD-ROM: The Search for Missing Friends The New England Historic Genealogical Society has a new Windows and Macintosh CD-ROM that will be of interest to anyone searching for Irish ancestry. Its coverage is not limited to New England; it contains information from all over the U.S. as well as some information about the Irish in Canada, Australia, and elsewhere. This week I had a chance to use "The Search for Missing Friends - Irish Immigrant Advertisements Placed in The Boston Pilot, 1831- 1920," edited by Ruth-Ann M. Harris and B. Emer O'Keefe. I used this disk on a Windows 2000 system although I suspect that its operation is similar on other Windows and Macintosh computers. During the Potato Famine and for many years thereafter, the Irish immigration disrupted thousands of families. Siblings, parents, and even married couples often took separate routes to America, Canada, Australia, or other lands to seek a better life. Once established in their newly adopted countries, many of these Irish immigrants expended a lot of effort in an attempt to locate other family members who had also left their homes in Ireland. The Boston Pilot newspaper ran "searching for..." notices for nearly a century. The newspaper essentially acted as a missing persons bureau. The notices were published in a column called "Missing Friends" and became a standing feature in the paper. Begun as a public service to readers both here and in Ireland, and maintained from 1831 to 1916, the column describes thousands of 19th-century immigrants by such key identifying information as name, county, townland, and parish of origin; time of emigration; ports of exit and entry; destination in North America; occupation' age; and names of other family members. The advertisements arose from necessity. In the transition to life in America, families were separated, addresses were lost or confused, and many of the newcomers simply disappeared into the vastness of the "promised land." Susan Reynolds, for example, sought two lost daughters. A native of county Westmeath, she lived on East Street in Boston in 1847 when she sought her daughter, Rose, who had disappeared while searching for her sister Mary. Mary was thought to be in Blackstone, Massachusetts. The majority of Irish who came to America were likely to be young unmarried adults. In the period covered by this volume (when sixty-four percent of "missing friends" were siblings), half the total number of Irish emigrants traveled in family groups. This pattern peaked in the first half of the century and declined steadily after 1850. By the time of the First World War, married couples comprised only one-tenth of all Irish immigrants. Single persons were more mobile, more able to move about searching for work. Thus the Irish were ideally suited to nineteenth-century America's labor needs. Unfortunately for their descendants, however, single individuals tend to leave fewer records than married couples. While these advertisements were usually intended to find a person living in America, Canada, or Australia, today those same ads have an opposite value: they often can identify the county or even the village of an Irish ancestor who may not have left any other clues about his or her origins. Even those who were never found by the notices in The Boston Pilot might be identified today. This CD-ROM provides a source of information not found elsewhere. Software installation of this CD-ROM disk was simple, about the same as any other modern Windows program. The software is based upon Folio Views, a very popular package that is used in many genealogy CD-ROM disks. Once loaded, the CD-ROM disk operated in about the same manner as the other NEHGS CD-ROM disks that I have reviewed. That is, its use was intuitive at all times. Simple searches worked almost instantly; type in a name, and all occurrences of that name are highlighted. The user can click on the "Next Hit" icon to jump from one occurrence of the name to the next. Of course, searching for common Irish surnames alone can produce thousands of "hits." My first search for the name Kelly produced far too many results to view in one sitting. Searching for a full name of "Bridget Kelly" did not help, as that actually found even more entries: all those for the name Kelly plus all those for the name Bridget. Luckily, the Advanced Query capability solved that dilemma. The Advanced Query syntax helps you focus and refine your searches through the use of Boolean operators, wildcards, proximity operators, and scope limitations. It allows you to search for words in a wide variety of methods. You can search for the name "Bridget" that appears within three words of the name "Kelly" and within 50 words of the place name of "Boston." Such a search quickly produced this listing: Of BRIDGET KELLY, a native of co. Longford, parish of Racline, and a child of 11 years, whose passages were paid last spring in Harnden & Co.'s line, and came with Christopher Martagh and family; sailed from Liverpool on the 26th of April last and supposed landed in Boston. Any information respecting them will be thankfully received by Thomas Kelly, Mt. Savage, Alleghany County, Maryland. You can see from this one sample listing that the names of three immigrants are provided, as well as a reference to the origins in Ireland of one. Best of all, the information is easily copied to a word processor, genealogy program, or other application by using the normal Windows or Macintosh "copy and paste" functions. Another listing of only two sentences provides a wealth of information for later genealogists: Of MRS MOLONEY, (maiden name Mary Madden) of the green of Cashel [co. Tipperary], who is supposed to be living in Troy or Rondout, N Y. She will hear something to her advantage (from her brother Daniel in Australia) by addressing Wm Ryan, Mt Kemble, Morristown, N J. This very brief listing gives the woman's maiden name as well as her married name, her village in Ireland, her probable location in America, and the name of a brother living in Australia. Many of the listings are poignant, such as the one above that appears to be a search for an 11-year-old girl separated from her family. Some of the searches ended happily, as in one case cited by the authors of this compilation: Although it is rare to read of a successful search, it is sometimes possible to surmise success from other information. Such is the case with Margaret Finneron Dolan's search for her husband, John. A native of Taughmaconnell, county Roscommon, John was believed to be in St. John, New Brunswick, having arrived in America in April 1840. He left Margaret and their three children with no support. Unable to locate him, Margaret placed the advertisement in 1845, naming John Carberry of Mill Dam, in Roxbury, Massachusetts, as a contact person. The 1850 census lists a John Carbury, age 37, a laborer born in Ireland, living in Roxbury, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, and the 1850 Roxbury City Directory lists a John Carbury living on Parker Street and working in the soap works. The household consisted of Carbury and his wife, Margaret, age 35, and seven children, aged seven months to ten years; there is also a Patrick Kenney, 25, a laborer born in Ireland; an Andrew Sprill, 30, ditto; and Mary Sprill, 20, undoubtedly either Andrew's wife or sister. Apparently the Carburys, like the Irish in England, took in boarders. Possibly Margaret Dolan boarded with the Carburys and thus listed them as contacts. The Carburys, Sprills and Patrick Kenney were listed in the census as "persons over 20 years of age who cannot read and write." Thus the Pilot advertisements may well have reached, or were used by, immigrants who were illiterate. The 1849 and 1850 city directories list a John Dolan, laborer, living on Parker Street, near Prentiss, and thus near the Carbury family. These facts suggest that Margaret's advertisement may have been successful, and that after finding each other the Dolans became neighbors of the Carburys. (There were several John Dolans listed after 1850 at other addresses in Roxbury, but it is unclear which, if any, pertain to this particular family.) Ruth-Ann M. Harris and B. Emer O'Keefe have created a great reference that is valuable for thousands of Irish descendants. Some of this material has been printed in the past. However, the new CD-ROM edition is much smaller, cheaper, and far easier to search. Michael J. Leclerc, Doug Sisko, Carolyn Sheppard Oakley, D. Brenton Simons, and the other staff members of the New England Historic Genealogical Society are to be congratulated for making this excellent reference available in electronic format. If you have elusive Irish ancestors whose origins in the old country have not yet been determined, you will want to check "The Search for Missing Friends - Irish Immigrant Advertisements Placed in The Boston Pilot, 1831-1920." Your ancestor might be listed there, either as the one who placed a notice or as one being sought. In either case, this CD-ROM often provides clues that often are not available elsewhere. No Irish family historian can be without this research tool! This CD-ROM disk requires at least 2 megabytes of hard disk space and a 4-speed or faster CD-ROM drive. Windows users will require a modern monitor with at least 800x600 pixel display; 32 bit color or higher; a Pentium I processor or better; Windows 95, 98, NT or 2000; and 32mb RAM (64mb recommended). Macintosh users will require System 7.5 or higher and 40mb RAM (64mb recommended). Note that Folio will not run on System OS X. "The Search for Missing Friends - Irish Immigrant Advertisements Placed in The Boston Pilot, 1831-1920" sells for $69.99 (U.S. funds) plus shipping. It can be ordered online safely from the New England Historic Genealogical Society's secure shopping cart system. You do not need to be a member of the Society to purchase the CD-ROM disk. To read more about this CD-ROM disk or to order it online, go to: http://www.newenglandancestors.org/store/browse/product.asp?sku=139636227 Regards, Christina North Carolina, USA