I am trying to research my ancestry.I've made it back to the generation that came here from Ireland.Any ideas?

Question

I have a trial membership to ancestry.com, but I have hit a dead end with trying to go beyond the generation that migrated here from Ireland. It was around the time of the famine. If anyone could lead me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it.

I have went back to my great great grandfather. His name is Michael Cornelious Wrinn. We have his discharge papers from the military which say he was from County Kerry Ireland. The best info I have on him says that he was born in 1828. He died on May 30 1897. He was a Union soldier in the 3rd Tennessee Infantry Company D. He was married to Nancy Elizabeth Jenkins and had several children including my great grandfather Jerry Wrinn. Michael's father's name was Jerry also and his mother's name is Kate. Micheal was born in Ireland and died in Philadelphia Tennessee. I visited his grave last weekend. I am hoping to find out more about his parents, Jerry and Kate Wrinn, and their parents ect. I am interested in the Irish ancestry. If anyone can give me some guidance, I would apprciate it.

Answer 1

Share the salient details of the emigrees with us and we'll point you in the right direction. Without knowing their names, ages, appx DOB and when they arrived in this country (which you can figure out from Census records), it'll be almost impossible to point you in the right direction. Realize there were a finite number of both first names and surnames, and probably 100,000 people named Murphy came over in the first few years of the famine alone. It makes it difficult, but not impossible. It just takes patience.

Answer 2

I'm thinking you should look at the family name Wren if you want to go back further. If Michael Cornelious Wrinn was the first of his family to come to this country, start looking for passenger lists. If you have any info on when he came to the U.S., or where he was born exactly, that would be helpful.

Ancestry.com also has some regimental histories on its site. Look for one from Tennesssee. Depending on where you live now, you may want to consider a road trip to the place of Michael Cornelious Wrinn's death and start checking the county courthouse, a local historical society, or something. Look for a will. Try to locate a second cousin, or some unlikely relative, or your oldest living relative in the hopes that they may have some info for you. Use Rootsweb or find a Wrinn/Wren family mailing list and ask there.

A brick wall can be frustrating, I know. if you can afford it, get the annual membership to Ancestry. You may also wamnt to find a copy of Everton's magazine. They can be very useful too.

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Answer 3

Ireland is tough to research because many records in Ireland were destroyed. Obtain their death certificates and check newspaper obituaries. Don't give up. Check church records where they lived. Write to the National Archives for a search of ships passenger lists. Good luck.

Answer 4

My ancestry traces back to Ireland too. Something l learned along the way is that names were given to children based on their family relationship. The first born son named after the father's father, second born named after the mother's father, third born named after his father, and fourth born named after his father's oldest brother. Girls were first born named after mother's mother, second born named after father's mother, third born named after mother, fourth born named after mother's oldest sister. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

Ancestry.com has the UK/Ireland census records back until 1841. Have you looked at those?

I cannot give any endorsements for these sites as I have not used them, but you can try:

http://www.ireland.com/ancestor/
http://www.irishgenealogy.ie
http://www.irishorigins.com/

Good luck.

Answer 6

I'll tell you the whole history, buy me a couple of drafts of the good Irish Ale and we'll talk for hours...

Answer 7

www.familysearch.org is also a great site to find your ancestors on. I've used it to trace some lines of my family back to the early AD's.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

cool