Dublin Trip: Part 2 (Family Research)

A bit of history. My mother's paternal grandparents immigrated from Ireland and my grandfather was a first generation Irish-American. That is very fascinating to me. I've always been interested in my family history, but more recently have become even more interested. Part of it is because I am in Europe and am closer to my roots, partly because I have access to some of the resources over here that I might not have ever had, and another part is because I know so little about my family past my parents' generation. I want to start my research now so that I can find out as much as I can for myself, for my older living relatives, for my children and for generations after me. As far as I know, I am Irish and German but don't ask me the percentage of my ancestry. My father's family is German from what I can gather (Schoming is a German surname). My mother's family is Irish and German. Her father's side is Irish as previously mentioned and we believe her mother's side is Irish & German. Since I have more information about her father's family, albeit very little, I have decided to start my research there. It has been difficult over the years to gather any information as my father died when I was two, his parents shortly after that, my mother's father died before I was born and her mother died when I was 11 years old. I have no other contact with my father's family and very little with my mother's family outside of her siblings and their families. As far as we know, there are no surviving family documents for either family other than civil records I might be able to obtain.

Dublin is the research mecca for Irish ancestry. How fortunate I was to be able to start my research there. From the General Register Office (civil records of births, marriages, and deaths) I found my great-grandfather's birth record (1885) and from that I found his parents' names and the town & county in which they lived (Clifden, Co. Galway), as well as the original spelling of their surname. How exciting! I also found one of his older brother's birth records (1866), which I thought would turn out to be his father's. One very interesting fact about him was that we share the same birthday - November 24! From there I took a trip to the National Library of Ireland to search through microfilm of Church/Parish records (for baptisms and marriages). I was unsucceful during that attempt as the records were very blurry and in some cases rather illegible. I found out later that they were also not necessarily in chronological order. So, I potentially overlooked relevant information. After that, I went to the National Archives of Ireland which house census records among other things. Unfortunately, they did not have census records before 1901, long story. However, from the 1901 and 1911 census records I found out a little bit more about my family at that time. The census shows who was living in the house at that time and what their "recorded" ages were. These ages weren't necessarily accurate, for a number of reasons, but it did list out some other childrens' names. All in all, I found out that there were 8 children born to my great-greatgrandparents between 1864 and 1890. I still need to find records of their marriage as well as the births, marriages, deaths, of their children. From there I can work my way up to present day. Unfortunately, it will be very difficult to work further back than 1864 as civil records are not available before then. So, I have even more reason to return to Dublin before we return to the States. I would eventually like to visit the area where my family came from. You never know who I might run into there!

This will be a project that will last several years I'm sure, as I have other branches of my family to research...as well as the Biviano family! I would like my future children to know what they can about Matt's family tree too!