Free on line Irish Civil Registrtion Records

For any of us that are doing Irish Genealogy and Research, September of 2016 was a big day for us. Why you ask?
Because that is when the civil vital records from Ireland's General Register Office, otherwise known as GRO went on line for free. To view civil records go to https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/agreement.jsprds

They have the following on line:

• Births         1864-1915
• Marriages   1882-1940
• Deaths         1891-1965

They will have some earlier dates on future updates. The end dates are due to privacy law restrictions.

You can search their site for free and they have a lot of images to view. You will need to sign in and a small easy test to prove you are not a robot, but then you view all the images on line that are available for FREE.
There is a great section explaining what they have available and also a section telling you where to get other Irish records. some examples are as follows:

• Civil Records
• Church Records
• Census Records
• Property Records
• Migration Records
• Graveyards
• Geography
• How to 

Also a great section on HOW DOES THIS SITE WORK?
The site gives a great number of resources. If you have Irish Ancestors do not delay in checking it out.

 

Under marriages I found  the records of two cousins twice removed. They are the children of James Nolan the brother of Sarah Nolan, my Great Grandmother on my Father's side of the Family. 

You may remember that I couldn't find any records of the two eldest children (James and Jane) of William & Anne Eliza (Maguines/Magennis) Nolan (my great grandparents) coming to America. James is Sarah's older brother found in the 1881 Scotland's Census. Sarah, her father William, and her brother Joseph were living with James and his wife Mary Ann and their daughter Susan. Susan is one of the marriage images that I found. William Nolan her younger brother is the other image I found.

I will continue to use this site to find other cousin records. But I wanted to get the word out as quickly as possible for you to find this wonderful new research website for your Irish ancestors. HAPPY HUNTING  on https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/

MAY THE LUCK OF THE IRISH BE WITH YOU.

Annie (Maginnes) Nolan 1900 US Census

We know that William Nolan died in Grafton, Massachusetts on 5 Mar 1895 of pneumonia, so where is his wife living after he dies? If we look at the 1900 US Federal Census we find Annie living with her son John and his family and Annie’s daughter Maggie (John’s sister).

There is a lot of information and clues we can gather from this 1900 Census.[1]

1.       They are still living in Grafton.

2.       Annie was born in June 1838 in Ireland. Something more to research.

3.       She’s a widow- (so this is probably the right person).

4.        Annie is a mother of 10 children of which 9 are living in 1900.

5.       John and Maggie were born in Ireland July 1863 and Aug 1876, respectively.

6.       John and Nellie have been married 7 years

7.       Nellie is a mother of 2 children both living.

8.       John, Maggie, and Annie Nolan immigrated here in 1888 and have been here 11 years.

Facts about Annie Nolan

       1.       They are living in Grafton and all of them are buried in Pine Grove Cemetery, 17 Waterville St., No. Grafton, Ma with or near William Nolan.[2] 
       2.       Annie was most likely born 3 Jun 1832 as her tombstone states.[3] She and William were married 22 Jul 1850 in Banbridge, Co. Down, Ireland and she states her age as 20.[4] If she was born in 1838 that would have made her 12, too young to marry.
      3.       We know Annie is a widow.
      4.       I can only document Annie having 8 children, but since Anne Eliza and William were married in 1850 there is certainly room for a couple of children.

              o   Jane, birthdate unkown,

              o   James born abt. 1859,

              o   Eliza born 1861,

              o   Samuel born 1863,

              o   Sarah, born 1866,

              o   Joseph born 1869,

              o   John born 1873,

              o   Margaret (Maggie) born 1876 

 5.    John's birth inscription reads as follows:

Lisburn, Antrim Down pg 21.22.23 Superintendent Reistrar's District Lisburn- Registrar'sDistrict Lisburn-1873 Births Registered in the District of Lisburn in the Union of Lisburn- Counties of Antrim Down----13 Jul 1873 John M father William Noland living in Longstone, Lisburn, occupation Dyer and mother Ann Eliza Noland formerly Maginnes, mother marked  her  X on 9th of Aug 1873.[5] 
Maggie was born abt. Aug 1876.    
 6.     John and Nellie were married 1 Sep. 1893 in Grafton.[6]    

 7.   Maggie and John have 2 children listed on this 1900 Census.     

 8.    I will blog more about their immigration in a future Blog post.

---

[1] 1900 U.S. Federal Census, Grafton, Worcester Co., MA, roll 692, ED 1632, Pg. 5.

[2] Older Blog post Thursday, January 8, 2015 and Monday, January 19, 2015.

[3] Ibid, Thursday, January 8, 2015.

[4] FamilySearch, “Marriage records, 1845-1870, with indexes to marriage, 1845-1921,” FHL film no. 101313.

[5] Familysearch, “Quarterly returns of births in Ireland, 1864-1955, with index to births, 1864-1921, FHL film 255883. P. 649, item 105

[6] Grafton Vital Records  15:190 item 31

Irish Ancestors in Massachusetts

EUREKA, EUREKA, I FOUND THEM

What do I mean by I couldn’t have been further from the truth and so close at the same time?  Our family, (Sadie’s son Nelson H. Vaundell and his wife Genevieve and children) lived in the apartment upstairs from my grandmother (Sadie) at 14 North Main Street, North Grafton.  My Aunt Evelyn (Sadie’s daughter), her husband Viking Anderson, and my cousins lived next door in the same yard, that had belonged to my great grandfather Nelson Vaundell before he died.

When we were young and living in North Grafton, my Grandmother Sadie (Steele) Vaundell used to gather us kids (my sister Judy, our 2 cousins, and me) to walk down to Pine Grove Cemetery, Waterville St., North Grafton a few days before Memorial Day to carry the baskets of Lilac’s and other flowers to the graves of our ancestors.        

First we would deliver a basket of flowers to the Vaundell plot, where her husband (my Grandfather, Harry Nelson Vaundell) and his family are buried. It is also the grave site of my great grandfather Nelson Vaundell nicknamed “the Boss”, whose house we lived in. Next we would go to the grave site of Sadie’s mother and father and siblings. We remember the location their grave site as her younger brother William Steele had a little lamb on top of his monument and we knew he died as a baby. It made quite an impression on us, especially my sister even to this day.

Photo taken by Genevieve De Haan - Pine Grove Cemetery, No. Grafton, Massachusetts

Being children I imagine we ran all over the cemetery and didn’t always pay attention to what our grandmother was doing. I never remember her going to any other grave sites, but she might have. Thinking back she must of, as we each carried at least one basket of flowers.  Looking back at my childhood I know we were at the cemetery many times without my grandmother visiting all our relatives. When I started doing genealogy I was able to go back to the grave sites without any problem and thought that I knew all the relatives that were buried there.

Fast-forward when I decided to do a little more research on the Noland family in and around the Grafton, MA. Area after submitting my article for the book Irish Roots in County Down in 2013. One day when my sister and I were coming back from Westborough, Worcester County, Mass. we decided to stop at Pine Grove Cemetery in North Grafton to look for Ann Eliza (Magennis) Nolan’s grave site. Judy stopped the car right in front of William Steele’s grave site with the little lamb on it. I looked out of the passenger car window and said “Eureka” we have found it. There was the grave site of Sadie’s grandparents; my great grandparents William and Ann Elisa Nolan. You could say this was my Ah-Ha moment in my genealogy research.

 

Photo taken by Genevieve De Haan - Pine Grove Cemetery, No. Grafton, Massachusetts