Tracing Irish relatives (living)

[Bloomed]

My father left my mother before my birth and then died when I was a child. My mother has died, having refused to tell me much about him or his family. She went on to have my brothers and my past was a dirty secret. He was Irish. I have managed to get his birth certificate and I know his parents' names. That's all. I think he may have had siblings and I may have living relatives in Ireland. I have no idea where to start with looking, as I can't find any trace of him or his parents on a family tree (I joined various genealogy sites). I was even in touch with the Salvation Army but they would need me to give the name of the relative I'm searching for. My health is dodgy and I'd love to tie up this loose end. Any idea how I can do this? I don't think I can afford to use an Irish based genealogist and I don't know if they can trace living relatives anyway. At least I'd love to meet someone who could tell me what he was like. Is there a way to find out if my Irish grandparents had other children etc?

What year was he born? You can search some of the ireland census records online.

Have you tried the Census? I think they are online.

What year was he born?

your best bet might be the church actually. If you have his birth cert, you should see his parent's address, and could find out what parish they are in. now church records are not digitized, so it might have to be a phone call (or a visit if you can manage it) to parish priest. this would work well especially in rural areas

i think its only very old census information thats available .... pre 1920 maybe ? worth a google though

Only 1901 and 1911 online. I think elelfrance is right about the Church being your best bet.

Bloomed the National Library in Dublin have a free genealogical advisory service. They will do phone appointments. They might be able to point you in the right direction.

www.nli.ie/en/genealogy-advisory-service.aspx

Thank you! Didn't expect any replies. I should have thought of the church. Is it as simple as working out the closest one to the address of the parents on his certificate? The online census records are far too early for him. I didn't know about the national library service, so thank you for that. I will do some digging about the church and then call the national library. I'll let you know what I come up with

Is it as simple as working out the closest one to the address of the parents on his certificate?

Yeah pretty much, i don't think they'd have any problem giving out the information you're looking for (sibling's names etc)

Thanks elefrance I'll let you all know what happens.

If he is from a small town, or has an unusual name, you could also check out ww.rip.ie, which gives death notices since 2007 by name and town. It's a bit leftfield but you might see notices for people with the same family name. Sometimes it lists living family members and addresses also....

Thanks usually I'll have a look (but am dealing with Dublin and a reasonably common name).

You could use an Irish ancestry website perhaps? I've also seen people have great luck putting an ad in the paper or a local page on fb asking for relatives to Co tact them. Do you know what area of Dublin?

Facebook? These stories always seem to spread....name, area of dublin if you know it, year of birth.. IME everyone knows everyone in ireland....my parents are from dublin and i mean that in a nice way

Thanks I might hold off on public appeals eg facebook/newspapers as it might ruffle some feathers in the rest of my family. But might use that as a last resort. Am doing this quietly for now.
I'm hoping for stories and relying on everyone knowing everyone krisskross

Bloomed you could try the Craicnet(Irish) section on here. You could just give the name of the area and someone could probably suggest the local churches and maybe a bit of background on the area. Many parts of Dublin would have still be very rural pre 1970 so it might not be quite the needle in the haystack that you imagine.

Thanks mumatoo, will pop over to Craicnet.
Hugh yes I have this fantasy of finding a priest who knows everyone and everything.

OP
Do you have your dad's name, date of birth and area of birth ?
If so the GRO office in Werburgh Street could help
Phone number is ( from UK)
0035318940080.
I spent two afternoons there and got quite a bit of information.
If you wish to email them Google :
The General Register Office ,Werburgh Street, Dublin 2
Good luck

I know it'd be a bit like finding a needle in a haystack and no guarantee of finding any known relatives on that line unless they're really into genealogy (and no guarantee that you'd be able to identify them anyway, esp if they haven't added a tree), but you could get an Ancestry DNA test done. A bit of a long shot I realise, but might be worth thinking about when you've exhausted the other options.

You could also try boards.ie, it's a huge all-purpose Irish forum. If you post the area in Dublin, people may have known the previous parish priest etc.

In Ireland forget 6 degrees of separation it's 3 degrees. It's a small enough place that it's difficult to be anonymous. If you google his surname and the address you have you could strike lucky and the house could still be in the family.

You could check the electoral register
www.checktheregister.ie/PublicPages/Default.aspx?uiLang=

Findmypast have opened their irish recotds for st patricks week. Another good place to look woud be the dublin library website. They would have a geneology site and a link to whatever local archives/newspapers are now digitised. You may just find a mention of him as part of a football team/witnessing a crime/ growing a massive cabbage/ named as a next of kin on a death notice. Good luck with your search

I would suggest the DNA test, that links you to living relatives, so you could have Irish relatives in the US etc. Any connection is interesting to talk about.

Good luck

I live in Dublin, I've done some research on my own family. If you let me know what area you're talking about I could do a bit of digging for you.