A blog of musings, experiences and morning coffee…
Here lies a genuine mystery! While researching the McCrystal name for my family genealogy, I stumbled upon a genuine mystery in Co. Cork:
I was investigating Michael as being a potential name for a 3X grandfather in Ireland. There were multiple instances of family lore saying my 2X grandfather came from Co. Cork. Could this be a clue? Continue reading “The Co. Cork McCrystal — A Murder Mystery”
When I was unable to sleep (because of the heat?), I got to thinking about how to present all the research I have been doing over the past year/2 decades/since the late 1990s. I have uncovered so many McCrystals (and the derivations of spelling) that I become mind-boggled just keeping the different people straight in my head as well as in the database. I took on of the smaller quantity of a name – Francis. In the various databases I found 8 deaths, 11 births, 12 marriages over the roughly 140 years. Continue reading “Francis McCrystal – Between 1790-1930 in Ireland”
There are few if any ethnicities or countries that have as much information available as the Irish have. Everybody and their uncles and aunts are researching Irish ancestry though it involves a lot of angst along the way. every time I turn around, there is a new website (new to me) for me to explore. But none of them bring me any closer to finding more information about my 2X grandfather, James McCristle. Continue reading “Irish Genealogy: Questions without many answers”
When I started this journey of researching my paternal family name, I did not expect to find so many derivations of the spelling nor the number of people with that last name between 1795 and 1930 in Ireland. I also did not expect to find them in the locations I found either. I had been under the (obviously wrong) impression that my ancestor(s) came from what is today called the Republic of Ireland (Co. Cork). As it turns out, they are pretty much completely from today’s Northern Ireland. Of course, back in the day, it was simply Ireland. Most of the time in the census of the United State, they just stated they were from Ireland, if not born in the US. Continue reading “800 McCrystals and counting”
When I picked up the threads of all my old research, I had no idea the journey I was embarking on. This has been an incredible 11 months. I had the basic DNA tests done from both My Heritage and Ancestry, became a Green Room member, bought a database program (Family Historian7) that I am happy with, found out that my James, in all likelihood, came from Northern Ireland, not Co. Cork as I believed for 3/4 of my life and so much more. Amazing what, after 20 years of ignoring a subject, can be revealed via the search engines and artificial intelligence if one just asks the right questions. Continue reading “The genealogical journey – McCrystal/McCristle”
A misconception, call it misinformation:
When you absolutely know your ancestor came from a specific area and time of history, why would you (or in this case, “ME”) look anywhere else even when confronted with conflicting information?
Yep. I was completely wrong! Sadly, I was many miles from my hometown when many of the elders related to my family were talking to strangers researching their book about the Rock Fences of the Bluegrass area of Kentucky. Their reminiscing’s were documented as the absolute truth about where my ancestors came from in Ireland and the stories behind those journeys. Continue reading “Breaking down the brick walls – Where did we come from?”
For the past 7 or 8 months I have been back to digging into my ancestry.
I had given this research up in the late 20-aughts because I felt I had fully explored everything available and had reached a dead-end. The proverbial “brick wall”. I was tired of the blood running in my eyes as I battered at the wall and got nowhere. I had been using Family Tree Maker and even that program had been sold so many times and not updated or maintained. All roads pointed to “give it up”. Continue reading “2026 – a year to travel again?”