Do You Know Where in Ireland Your Ancestors Came From?

Finding the town or county where your family came from in the “Old Country” can be difficult. That’s where Irish American newspapers can really help you locate your ancestor’s place of birth when researching your ancestry from Ireland.

For example, look at this 1859 obituary from an old Irish American newspaper:

This typical historical obituary, although short, gives us plenty of family history information:

• Name of deceased: Ellen O’Brien
• Name of spouse: Lawrence O’Brien
• Date of death: 15 January 1859
• Where she died: at 63 Montgomery Street in New York City
• Age at death: 68th year—so, she was born about 1791
• Where she was born: she was a native of Drinaugh Parish, County Cork, Ireland

Note: Drinaugh Parish is spelled Drinagh today.

Wow.

It took me decades to find the townland in Ireland where my family was from.

We found her birthplace with just a few clicks of the mouse in GenealogyBank’s Irish American newspaper archives.

We now know where to look to learn more about her life growing up in the late 1700s in Ireland.

We could check and see what old church records the Roman Catholic Church in Drinagh has on file.

Click by click we can piece together the documentation and the stories about the scenes that she likely saw growing up in Ireland, as we document, preserve and pass down her story to the rising generation of the family.

It’s a great day for genealogy!