Scotch-Irish-L Archives

From:
Subject: Re: [S-I] Shirley Estate Records
Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:37:44 +0000

Hi Diane,

To find more info on the mills, you do local history. It has been said of Irish genealogy that it is about local history, local history, and local history. There's a few books about on how to find stuff on your area.

However, first google. Google. Then GOOGLE some more. Seriously, I do genealogy professionally and often I have clients who believe they have 'done everything'. Usually I can locate stuff they do not have with a simple google. It ain't a two second thing. In your case google for the surname and the parish, the surname and the townland, the surname and the county. The Shirleys and your surname. The Shirleys and your mill's name, the Shirleys and the parish, townland, etc, etc. A simple thing but rarely done well -- and this will cost you time and money.

Then use the LDS library catalog. I'm assuming you didn't dash over last night and check everything in the county, parish, townland, and Shirley records. Do it soon. There may be a book on the mill....donno....didn't check.

Also check here: http://www.rootsweb.com/~bifhsusa/osmemoirs.html then locate a copy for the parish. THIS IS KEY. You have no idea how important this can be. If you join a Monaghan list and ask if any one has the volume you need, perhaps someone can copy the pages for you. Or it is in a nearby library. These books give detailed history of the parishes. They are not indexed. It is possible someone put your parish on the Internet free or abstracted information. If so, you already found it by googling. Some parishes reported the names of emigrants. These are on the Internet to be found by googling.

Join a Monaghan list. It may have people on it who know the area well. If the list you join doesn't, unsub and join another.

Also check Ryan "Irish Records" and "Tracing your Irish Ancestors" by Grenham. These books have chapters on each county and may list additional resources. You can find these in a libary near you or ask a list to check for you.

Check for a book or article specifically on Monaghan. You may have found it googling, so you are way ahead. Otherwise google for Monaghan genealogy. Or check Ryan or Grenham. Or amazon or www.genealogical.com .

Upload the free LDS guide to Irish genealogy. It may have some leads as well. It's free, what do you have to lose? In fact, consider methodically checking all the sources listed -- eventually. When I am doing thorough research I often upload the LDS guide, copy of the list of sources, paste into a Word file, add more I found that are not in LDS, and check them all, putting a little check when I did it (and noting what I checked for). Then I can see I am progressing (which the client probably wants to know!). Cherry picking works sometimes, but if nothing turns up, then you must leave no rock unturned, as the saying goes. Thorough, methodical work.

Also if you did all this or even read the prior emails, you noticed that there is alot of mention to Clogher and the "Clogher Record". That's because your ancestors lived in Clogher Valley, a community that is not a parish or county. Many of our did. Sometimes stuff is organized by it. So google for it too. There is a list of articles published in the local history/genealogy journal "The Clogher Record" on the internet. You should check it. I think some issues are in LDS. Maybe all. Donno. If I wanted to know I'd go to the catalog and search for "Clogher Record". It's cosmic.

Articles in periodicals are not in the LDS index, but in "Smiths Inventory". This is intense genealogy here, thorough researching. With all things you find there, your second step is to figure out how to get access to it. Order from LDS, locate someone helpful on an email list, go to a library, order thr ough interlibrary loan, etc -- that's phase two. You can find out more about these esoteric indexes that amateurs hardly ever use (but should) at www.rootsweb.com/~bifhsusa -- the guide to Irish genealogy.

The point is there is a lot of stuff out there so if you don't initially find much, keep on looking. If what you find isn't helpful, keep on looking. People want instant gratification -- you rarely get it in Irish genealogy, but every time you work and find something, you have honed your research skills. That's the really important thiing. If you can do research effectively, you can find almost anything out. If you can't do research, you can't learn anything. So it's the key skill. Pat yourself on the back every time you sweet-talk someone into getting you an article or information or find something in a book.

Often people won't know the specific answer to your question, so you'll have to do research to get the answer. Or if all you do is ask on lists you are severely limited to what's in the brains of those on the lists the same time as you. Sometimes youc an get lucky, but if you just google effectively you can find a lot more stuff than your peers know about.

Best of luck!

Linda Merle
-------------- Original message --------------
From:

> As a follow-up to an earlier posting, I'd like to search the Shirley estate
> records in the hopes of finding more information about my ancestors and would
> appreciate any guidance listers can provide. My gggrandfather James Johnston
> operated a mill in Raferagh in the 1850s through 1880 or so. His brother Thomas
> was superintendent of the Laragh mills, Edward was a mill foreman there, and
> John was a mill inspector in Cornacarrow. If anyone can advise me how to find
> more information on these mills in the hopes of finding references to my
> ancestors, I'd be very grateful.
>
> Diane
>
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