Search Results for 'amateur genealogist'

If you have ever attempted to compile your family tree you may have already felt that sense of frustration when you realise that all accessible leads have been exhausted. Truthfully, at that point there is also a feeling of relief. Relief in the knowledge that there are no more stones to overturn, that you can finally park the family tree as being ‘finished’, which of course it never is. If, like the majority of the county, your ancestry is Irish and Catholic, you will be fortunate to trace your pedigree back to the relatively recent 18th century. The reason being that State registering of births, deaths, and marriages did not begin until 1864 and the earlier recording of this information by Catholic clergy in their parishes was haphazard. The earliest parish records for Aughaval (Westport) only begin in 1821. Records for Kilmoremoy (Ballina) and Aglish (Castlebar) begin in 1823 and 1824, respectively. For information before the early 19th century, the amateur genealogist is largely dependent on luck and supposition.