Family History is so important to research for many reasons. You’ve probably been thinking about taking it on for years. Don’t leave it too long. There is no time like the present. You don’t have to do it all in one go and you can always ask for help.
1: If you think it’s just too difficult just start with what you know. Talk to everyone in your immediate family, then progress to your extended family and talk to anyone who is willing to talk to you. Gather memories, stories and dates. That family rumour could very have a grain of truth in it and then grew legs, why not investigate it
2: Researching your family is important to understanding where you are in the world, your family story, where you cam from, how your family got to where you are. Learning about the people who shaped your life and that of your family can just help you see where you fit in the world.
3: There is always the very important medical reasons. Important to know anything medical that is in your family, knowledge is power and in this case it could help prevention or early treatment of illnesses coming down the line.
4: For future generations who might want to know about you and your family story. You might think it’s not significant but local and family history give a real insight into life and times of a place or a time in history. Newspapers and television give the bigger picture but family stories can tell what it was really like on the ground and how a particular event affected real people.
5: There have never been so many records available, particularly online. There is so much out there at your fingertips. Just remember, particularly with Irish Ancestry to look and search outside the box. For example, school records can tell you when your ancestor was in school, you might also find siblings there too, and they can tell you when your ancestry was out of school sick or they were taken out of school to help in the family business or family farm, which might link with the death of a parent or family member.
6: In the last few years I am finding in my travels through my favourite places in the world, graveyards, stones are weathering and writing is becoming harder to decipher, or read at all. A lot of graveyards are documented but some are not so Please Please Please get started before it’s too late.
Don’t forget if you need any help at all with your research, help finding a grave or a trip made to a graveyard to check out anything for you here locally before your trip. Send a quick email and we will do the very best we can to help we have people all over the country willing to help. experiencingirelandtours@gmail.com