Find Your Long Lost Invisible Irish Relatives

Invisible relatives may pertain to those people who are difficult to find or are perhaps hidden relatives.  A relative can be considered missing if he or she does not appear even in one of the volume of records containing your family’s history. Detailed information of your invisible relative can be hard to uncover. You don’t probably suspect that he or she exists before you begin your research.

You need to know some of the reasons why such things happen.

• Women are most often categorized as invisible relatives. Keep in mind that women didn’t have legal identities of their own in many countries. They are not regularly mentioned in community records. In Ireland, property was rarely registered in the name of a woman from the 18th to 19th century. When registration of civil marriages took place in 1865, only the father’s name of both couples is listed.

• If family members disapproved of a relationship, thinking that it can bring disgrace to their family, they would hide it consciously.  For example, a widow who wanted to marry again but her children are all grown up.

• It runs in the tradition of the Irish, they always want to portray the best face and feet forward. They omit sad memories from the tales about their family. Thus, infants and young children who are already dead were never mentioned again.

• Some common records used in genealogy research are incomplete. The contents have entirely missed important things about the person. Maybe, they failed to anticipate that the latest generation would likely want to know about their origins.  Some census reports in the U.S have this problem.  Former spouses were never mentioned on the record, as well as the date of immigration until 1900.

So, some Irish who are just starting to find their genealogy can face a lot of challenges. It is advisable not to rely too much on what they find on the written records. However, any piece of information is important to help you in your research. No matter how small the information is, you can unravel many things once you dig deeper.

Never assume that the norms in the 20th and 21st century, made sense 50, 100, or 200 years ago. Try to learn and understand that norms vary according to time and place.  Considering all the records (both Irish and American) are helpful in solving the jigsaw puzzles of your life, in case your family already migrated in the U.S. This process is also similar in other countries.

There are factors that you should concentrate on when finding an invisible Irish relative. Checking the census can be effective in finding the persons who are related to the one you are looking for. Another is to learn some significant traditions associated with the place. For example, in Ireland, the naming tradition is very popular. Irish men name their oldest son after their grandfather. If the person is already married, then search for the marriage record. Take note, during the 1860′s, divorce was not favored in Ireland. So, better check for death records also in case the name changed.

Finally, be patient as your research progresses. After all, it is worthwhile to embrace your origin again and find the missing part of your life.

Scrapbooking Your Family Tree

Autograph Collecting And Family History

Since the TV series “Roots”, there has been a surge of interest in tracing family roots and history.  Autograph collecting has been one of the avenues used to record this history.  Now every other family seeks to have some kind of reunion once a year, every two years, or in rare cases every five years.

Many exchanges are made at these reunions including autographs. Other items may be collected such as old letters, birth certificates, wedding documents, and baptism records.  Some of these reunions and family affairs such as weddings, anniversaries, graduations, and other special programs provide many different ways for those who are autograph collecting to get autographs.  There are planned programs with pictures of participants and those who are being honored or remembered.  These printed programs and pictures can be items used for autograph collecting.  Some families maintain a scrap book with these signatures and pictures for reference information on the family.

How many times have you been to a family function and did not know all of the family who were present?  Autograph collecting is a super way to get to know family and to have something to remember one by as a point of reference.  If you are from a large family, autograph collecting may be the only avenue available to you to make some personal contact in a short period of time.  Many collectors record information about the person on the back including date, place, and the relation.

When the person dies, the death date and cause of death may also be recorded on the back or somewhere close to the picture.  Even before death, if you can record tidbits of information about the person, it may prove to be beneficial down the road.   These tidbits of information may include the person’s profession, health information, interests and anything else important to family.  If you use autograph collecting to its fullest, you may just become the family historian and be contacted from time to time for some of this information that you have gathered.  This kind of autograph collecting records a lot of health information about the family in most cases.

Health professions have long known that the family blood line is the cause of many health problems. Rare diseases – like hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell anemia may have been in the family at one time.  If you let your autograph collecting reflect family diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes your time will be one of the best investments you could make.  Tracing the illnesses suffered by parents, grandparents may help the doctor to predict your risk for having these diseases. In your autograph collecting some of this information can be recorded when it becomes available.

Very few people take the time to look on the back of a photo.  Nevertheless, in addition to the signature on the picture, you will find it worth while if you provide a tag under each picture with name, date, and activity.  Again there is no doubt that this kind of autograph collecting is one of the most valuable and rewarding investments you can make as a collector.   That information will satisfy the average browser.

Scrapbooking Your Family Tree