Subject: Who Do You Think You Are Last evening another episode of the American version of Who Do You Think You Are was shown on t.v., profiling celebrity Rose O'Donell on the prowl to trace her mother's Irish ancestry. As a celebrity, of course, all the legwork was done for her at various levels by the different professionals in libraries, archival repositories, and clergy in Ireland unearthing old baptismal church records, to a trip to a poorhouse in Kildare which was the watershed, if you will, of how she found out how her family got to America. The access to the old actual church records surprised me a little as I thought that most documents would now be in such as PRONI, Belfast, or its equivalent in Dublin. For example, the canon in the R.C. church we visited in Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone, where we were trying to trace my husband's great-grandfather, Patrick Skiffington, indicated that the church records did not go back far enough and we'd have to go to PRONI or (National Archives of Ireland) Dublin. The programme also reinforced how difficult it is to trace a forebear back to a specific area in Ireland as most documents (such as censuses) just gave Ireland as the place of birth. At some point, however, there was a breakthrough that showed a connection to Kildare, and it was from there that Rosie's Irish family were connected to the poorhouse where they were sponsored by a (Scottish named family by the name of McDonald!) to go to (French) Canada. At some point the family ended up in Massachusetts, USA. (I missed that step of how they ended up there!) The amateurs among us would assume that with a name like O'Donnell, the family had to be R.C., and the logical place would be to go to the R.C. church, but as Rose was tracing her mother's Murta/Murtagh side, it turned out that one of the male forebears was Protestant. At some point he had to be "passed off" as R.C. Again, I must have been distracted as I missed "the point" of that. I am fortunate in that I have been able to trace one of my mother's grandmothers (born 1839) to Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, Ireland...and even saw the street where she was born. A "far-out" cousin here in the USA unearthed a lot of information on our mutual Irish heritage, which she generously shared with me.. However, even though I know that another great-great-grandmother on my mother's side came from Belfast with two of her sisters, all three of whom died in the City Poorhouse, Parliamentary Rd., Glasgow, I haven't begun to try to trace them back to Co. Antrim. They were illiterate and poverty-stricken, and so I imagine there would be a sparse, if any, paper trail. One of them was born in 1800, Belfast, and died in 1879 in the poorhouse in Glasgow. Again, on the poorhouse document it indicates that she was Protestant, to be crossed out to show that she was R.C. Her maiden surname was Pope! I had often wondered how the poor and destitute were ever able to leave Ireland, especially during the Great Famine when they couldn't even buy a potato to stay alive, and so it was enlightening to learn that those in the poorhouse, if they so chose, would accept sponsorship by someone on this side of the world. I also wonder if the same option was offered those in the poorhouse in Glasgow, for example. This is a shorthand version of how a lot of sleuthing, with the aid of many professionals, may produce results along the way in finding that elusive forebear. Most of us are not nearly so lucky. We have to rely on the sleuthing of such as Nivard on the Lanark list and Malcolm on the Wigtown list. There are many unnamed others who give freely of their time and expertise, for which we owe much appreciation. I for one would never have a binderful of information if it had not been for such unselfishness by such "sleuths," and so another big thank you. Maisie

Hi Maisie Yes I thought the "tour" through the poorhouse was very sobering.  My ancestor got out of Ireland in 1848 by "Stealing a carrot" she was transported for 10 years to Tasmania Australia she served her time by working on farms around Launceston married another prisoner and then moved to New Zealand . I know through my research many of the poor in Ireland and England committed petty crimes so they could be transported out of the poverty. My other ancestor who was living in the slums of Glasgow was lucky enough to be sponsored by the Presbyterian Church and he and his family left on "The Duchess of Argyle" in 1842 to a very primitive Auckland town. Both families ended up with  very healthy happy lives unlike their brothers and sisters back home in Britain Donna ----- Original Message ----- From: Maisie Egger <[email protected]> Date: Saturday, February 19, 2011 10:15 am Subject: [WIG LIST] Fw: [Lanark] Who Do You Think You Are To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > > Subject: Who Do You Think You Are > > >  Last evening another episode of the American version of > Who Do You Think > You Are was shown on t.v., profiling celebrity Rose O'Donell on > the prowl to > trace her mother's Irish ancestry.  As a celebrity, of > course, all the > legwork was done for her at various levels by the different > professionals in > libraries, archival repositories, and clergy in Ireland > unearthing old > baptismal church records, to a trip to a poorhouse in Kildare > which was the > watershed, if you will, of how she found out how her family got > to America. > >  The access to the old actual church records  > surprised me a little as I > thought that most documents would now be in such as PRONI, > Belfast, or its > equivalent in Dublin.  For example, the canon in the R.C. > church we visited > in Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone, where we were trying to trace my > husband's > great-grandfather, Patrick Skiffington, indicated that the > church records > did not go back far enough and we'd have to go to PRONI or > (National > Archives of Ireland) Dublin. > >  The programme also reinforced how difficult it is to trace > a forebear back > to a specific area in Ireland as most documents (such as > censuses) just gave > Ireland as the place of birth.  At some point, however, > there was a > breakthrough that showed a connection to Kildare, and it was > from there that > Rosie's Irish family were connected to the poorhouse where they > were > sponsored by a (Scottish named family by the name of McDonald!) > to go to > (French) Canada.  At some point the family ended up in > Massachusetts, USA. > (I missed that step of how they ended up there!) > >  The amateurs among us would assume that with a name like > O'Donnell, the > family had to be R.C., and the logical place would be to go to > the R.C. > church, but as Rose was tracing her mother's Murta/Murtagh side, > it turned > out that one of the male forebears was Protestant.  At some > point he had to > be "passed off" as R.C.  Again, I must have been distracted > as I missed "the > point" of that. > >  I am fortunate in that I have been able to trace one of my > mother's > grandmothers (born 1839) to Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim,  > Ireland...and even > saw the street where she was born.  A "far-out" cousin here > in the USA > unearthed a lot of information on our mutual Irish heritage, > which she > generously shared with me..  However, even though I know > that another > great-great-grandmother on my mother's side came from Belfast > with two of > her sisters, all three of whom died in the City Poorhouse, > Parliamentary > Rd., Glasgow, I haven't begun to try to trace them back to Co. > Antrim.  They > were illiterate and poverty-stricken, and so I imagine there > would be a > sparse, if any, paper trail.  One of them was born in 1800, > Belfast, and > died in 1879 in the poorhouse in Glasgow. Again, on the > poorhouse document > it indicates that she was Protestant, to be crossed out to show > that she was > R.C. Her maiden surname was Pope! > >  I had often wondered how the poor and destitute were ever > able to leave > Ireland, especially during the Great Famine when they couldn't > even buy a > potato to stay alive, and so it was enlightening to learn that > those in the > poorhouse, if they so chose, would accept sponsorship by someone > on this > side of the world.  I also wonder if the same option was > offered those in > the poorhouse in Glasgow, for example. > >  This is a shorthand version of how a lot of sleuthing, > with the aid of many > professionals, may produce results along the way in finding that > elusive > forebear.  Most of us are not nearly so lucky.  We > have to rely on the > sleuthing of such as Nivard on the Lanark list and Malcolm on > the Wigtown > list.  There are many unnamed others who give freely of > their time and > expertise, for which we owe much appreciation.  I for one > would never have a > binderful of information if it had not been for such > unselfishness by such > "sleuths," and so another big thank you. > >  Maisie > > >   > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SCT- > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >