Let’s face it, every March 17 we all want to be Irish. My husband and I argue over who’s more Irish. He tells me my maiden name is pure Scottish but I know from family stories that my Grandfather was Irish. My mother was a McCormick and knew every Irish ditty, was full of Irish folklore and superstitions and had an Irish saying for everything that happened in life. My husband’s mother was Irish with the surnames Hagan and McAleer but his father was German so my husband could only claim to be half Irish on his mother’s side. Not wanting to back down to my husband’s challenges I decided to investigate my family tree, something I’d always wanted to do. I envy people who know exactly where their families originated; all I had was hearsay.
I wished I could have summoned my deceased family members in order to get more information to start my search. I had just one living aunt and I’d already picked her brain for pertinent facts. She told me a story of how my grandfather McCormick and his family had immigrated to Philadelphia and grew up next door to the Barrymore’s and how he and his sister Annie used to play with Ethel and Lionel Barrymore as children. Sadly, we were never able to substantiate this but it was my family’s claim to fame and actually helped me in my research.
At this point I think I should forewarn anyone on a similar quest. Once you start you become addicted. My search began long before the internet so I started a notebook when I went to check out the census records. I was able to pull up the census of my mother’s family when she was two years old. I spent hours scanning microfilms and wrote down as many ages and dates as I could which gave me a base. Eventually I was able to use the internet to get further. I can’t imagine beginning a search today without it because everything you need is a click away. I decided to join a genealogy site called www.ancestry.com which claims to have 6 billion records available. After accessing several thousand records my family tree was in place. The site is amazing because you can not only access the census but also military and ship records with passenger lists.
Then my husband and I decided to go to Ireland. It was our second trip and the perfect opportunity to continue tracing our Irish heritage. When I began researching the Hagan name on my husband’s side someone asked me what had happened to the “O” (as in O’Hagan). Since so many Irishmen had altered their names when they landed in the U.S., with the help of the internet I was able to determine that the “O” was kept or not depending on your county. The spelling of names was also changed as many of the names were often spelled as they sounded. My local research took me over a year to complete and I’d gathered quite a bit of information but not much on the Ireland side. Again I turned to the internet to see what else I could find.
If you search “free Irish ancestry” you’ll find many sites, many of which are not really “free”. Luckily I hit upon www.discoverireland.com which I used to further plan my Ireland trip to finish my search. The wealth of content and countless links guided me step by step in my search. If you click on “Things to See and Do”, under the “Culture & Sights” heading a drop down menu takes you to “Tracing Your Ancestry” where you’ll find everything you need. I was actually able to access the National Archives of Ireland and church records. I searched the Irish census for 1901-11 and came up with important information on all three of our family names; where the families may have lived in Ireland and what counties and what their ages and occupations were. I found out that my grandfather McCormick and his family may have lived in County Mayo based on their ages and the name and birth date of his sister, Annie. Now I had all I needed to complete a family search in Ireland.
There are heritage centers all over Ireland but I found that if you mention a surname to any Irishman he or she would know someone who might be related to you and could set up a meeting to investigate. Can you imagine such cooperation? I was told to go to the Mayo North Family Heritage Center on the incredible grounds of a Georgian estate called Enniscoe House. After a personal tour of the mansion by the gracious Susan Kellett, one of the original family owners, we proceeded to the Heritage Centre which housed a small museum of Irish artifacts and a lovely tea room where we enjoyed lunch beside a roaring fireplace. I felt like I was eating in an Irish family’s kitchen.
After lunch, I met with someone from the Family History Research Centre about my search and she explained the process. She was excited when I mentioned that my mother’s maiden name was McCormick and asked if I was related to the great John McCormack, the famous Irish tenor, born in Athlone, County Westmeath, in 1884. Ironically, he had lived through the same period as my grandfather McCormick (till 1945). But I explained to her that it wasn’t likely there was a connection as the only songs my family knew were Irish folk tunes and off key at that so no go. In Ireland surnames mean something more than here in the U.S. and when people hear your name they’re likely to introduce you to someone else with the same surname as though he is a long lost ancestor. That’s the charm of the Irish, to make you feel as though you belong.
To know that my ancestors may have lived in this same area made me feel proud of my heritage. It’s made me want to keep up and learn where all my ancestors lived and why they left this gorgeous country. I know that when they arrived in America there was nothing but hardship yet they worked to give their families a good life. Did they leave because of the potato famine or another reason? Unfortunately I haven’t got those answers yet so l plan to return to Ireland to get further along. It’ll take more research but I’m up to it because I’m sure I’ll be able to enlist the help of all the wonderful Irish people I met in Mayo and the Midlands.
For the record, we stopped at several of the heritage research centers on our trip through Western Ireland and all were wonderful in fueling the fire for tracing our roots (obviously). They made us feel like kinfolk coming home to the land of our family and convinced me that I had made so much progress in determining that my ancestors were from this very area. At least I’d got to experience the beautiful countryside in my quest and I’m ready for more.
Now my husband feels slighted that I did more research on my side of the family than his so I promised him that when we go back to Ireland next year we’ll work on the Hagan side of his family tree. After all, we all want to be Irish … it’s March.
Planning on Tracing Your Ancestry in County Mayo?
The Mayo North Family Heritage Centre @ Enniscoe House
Castlehill, Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland; 353 96 31112; www.enniscoe.com