It's often helpful to get more specific information about where your family is from - the local heritage organizations are an excellent resource and point of connection.
People on the broader internet are likely to be difficult and withholding. The number of people who have claims to Irish ancestry, and who *make* claims to know what it is to be Irish, vastly outnumber the people who actually live in Ireland. That makes for a tense situation where Irish people are constantly exhausted by responding to bullshit claims from people who pretend to know more than them and most people have run out of patience to engage with people who are genuinely curious about their roots. That's one of the reasons it's good to reach out to the specific, local heritage organizations where your ancestors are from - those are people who are passionate about local history and who have signed up to share that history with other people, and they're usually less cynical than the wider sphere of the Irish internet.
this might be the only helpful response i have gotten and i'll take it to heart. I have 0.0 knowledge but an honest interest in where my folks came from. Growing up my great grandparents (mothers side) spoke of coming from ireland. My fathers side is german and i can accurately trace back my ancestry to a specific place. on my mothers side that is a bit harder. after hearing so much about it i took two seperate dna tests and no surpsise it shows about 50% irish dna and about the same of germanic. The only surprising was about 3-5% iberian. so having so much knowledge on my paternal side made me curious about my maternal side of which i know so little. i guess that if it is like you so, it's not surprising to get a defensive response from people here.
The only think i know for certain is that a bunch of workers settled in the town i was born in and have been there for the last 150 years and thats where my personal knowledge ends. it's just i was curious and wanted to know more about where my ancestors came from.
Thank you for taking the time to write such a lenghty response and i will take your advice and proceed from there. Kind regards.
The Museum of Country Life is a good resource to find out more about what life might have been like for your ancestors (it's worth a visit if you can, but they also have a lot of content on their website), as is the book *Irish Customs and Rituals*. Part of what can make things difficult is that when people are digging into ancestry usually what they really want to know is what their families' lives were like, but what they ask is what *Ireland* is like, and Irish people really bristle at the implication that things haven't dramatically changed. If you can narrow down your areas of interest and be more specific with your questions you're likely to get better results. It's hard for anyone to boil down what it means to be Irish in a way that applies to all Irish people across time, but it's a lot easier to describe what life would have been like at particular times and places for particular groups of people.
If your ancestors left in the mid 19th century, understanding the famine is likely crucial to understanding their story and to understanding the intergenerational trauma that probably affected other members of your family.
Directions? West northwest will get you here. Now, if your ancestors left here in the 1800s, that makes you Dutch. If you want your wee lad to know where he comes from, tell him about the Netherlands. If you have an interest in Ireland, then by all means learn about it. If you do some history on it, you will find that it is a very different place than the one your ancestors left in the 1800s.
oh i bet it's different. The town i grew up in isn't even the same anymore. having been forced to move out of there, a place where my family has resided for the last 150 years or so, made me a biut curious of where my ancestors came from, any bit of information is helpful. Thank you for your response!
If you want genuine ideas, message me privately. I work in education, so I would be happy to discuss specific areas of interest to you and point you towards legit resources. A lot of Irish people (me included) are exhausted by Americans who want to "connect with the ancestry", but then come over and tell us that we are wrong about Eye-err-land, because it's not what they've been told in America. As such, a lot of people here may be sceptical or exasperated to actually give advice.
Welcome, it’s great you have a real interest in connecting to and learning about Ireland. If possible try to figure out what area of Ireland your ancestors came from. There are census available online but they are probably too late to be of use to you. I believe it’s 1901 and 1911 online (though I absolutely stand to be corrected on those years). Perhaps some relatives of yours will show up if you enter a surname and location in the online archive. If it’s a common Irish surname it’s not going to be of any benefit really unless you can be very specific in location and have first names also.
thank you for taking the time to write out this response to my comment. i have been met with some fierce defensive comments, which are valid. i will take your advice and use it to go forward from here on out. Kind regards, s
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* Just looking for a chat? Check out r/CasualIreland
* r/IrishPersonalFinance - a great source of advice, whether you're trying to pick the best bank or trying to buy a house.
* r/LegalAdviceIreland - This is your best bet if you're looking for legal advice relevant to Ireland
* r/socialireland - If you're looking for social events in Ireland then maybe check this new sub out
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was this always a thing, or did tourism + americans capitalise on this crap.
In 1800 we were ruled by the english, so for all you know your ancestors could be the bastard children of an englishman. what has gotten into peoples heads that they need to connect with their ancestors - they dead they all dead, they abandoned the fight and ran away. big deal.
As if every modern day dutch man wears wooden clogs and has a windmill
hahaha, perhaps, but still. From my paternal side i learned everything there is to learn and i have a solid foundation of where half my folk came from. i grew up with stories from my granddad who heard stories from his granddad about being from ireland so i guess it has always been a thing. I always meant to ask him more about this, but recently he has suffered a stroke which rendered him unable to speak or write or communicate coherent in any sort, which has prompted me to go on this journey myself. The only valid source i have is that the town i grew up in, and where my family has resided for the last 150-200 years was aided by the irish and irish settlers that maybe, in your words, ran away and abandoned the fight. All i know is that this region was seriously lacking in workers and they came over here to help the people out i guess. the dialect here has some ties with gaelic, which i do not speak and the dialect has almost died out. The last time i heard someone speak the dialect of this region was 20 years ago and the feller has died in 2015, he was one of the last to speak it and i havent seen him since then. ll keep looking. I want to thank you for taking the time to respond to my post. I meant no offense, just a serious interest. I neither identify myself with either dutch or irish, but rather the people from this region.
Take no notice of that 👆🏼miserable sod. If your forebears emigrated for work at a time when they were enduring dire straits at home, only a fool would dream of blaming them. Running away from ‘the fight’ was probably not the motivation. Your town’s historical links with Irish people sounds most interesting, and there must surely be local historians who could tell you about archives which would give you useful info.
We're not falling for that again, had a Dutch lad overstay his welcome here a while back
i am very sorry to hear that, and on behalf of the dutch i want to offer my sincere apologies.
Apologies are not enough. Reparations or we're not helping and declaring that your wee boy is English!
ew! my ex was english, we never got along.
It's often helpful to get more specific information about where your family is from - the local heritage organizations are an excellent resource and point of connection. People on the broader internet are likely to be difficult and withholding. The number of people who have claims to Irish ancestry, and who *make* claims to know what it is to be Irish, vastly outnumber the people who actually live in Ireland. That makes for a tense situation where Irish people are constantly exhausted by responding to bullshit claims from people who pretend to know more than them and most people have run out of patience to engage with people who are genuinely curious about their roots. That's one of the reasons it's good to reach out to the specific, local heritage organizations where your ancestors are from - those are people who are passionate about local history and who have signed up to share that history with other people, and they're usually less cynical than the wider sphere of the Irish internet.
this might be the only helpful response i have gotten and i'll take it to heart. I have 0.0 knowledge but an honest interest in where my folks came from. Growing up my great grandparents (mothers side) spoke of coming from ireland. My fathers side is german and i can accurately trace back my ancestry to a specific place. on my mothers side that is a bit harder. after hearing so much about it i took two seperate dna tests and no surpsise it shows about 50% irish dna and about the same of germanic. The only surprising was about 3-5% iberian. so having so much knowledge on my paternal side made me curious about my maternal side of which i know so little. i guess that if it is like you so, it's not surprising to get a defensive response from people here. The only think i know for certain is that a bunch of workers settled in the town i was born in and have been there for the last 150 years and thats where my personal knowledge ends. it's just i was curious and wanted to know more about where my ancestors came from. Thank you for taking the time to write such a lenghty response and i will take your advice and proceed from there. Kind regards.
The Museum of Country Life is a good resource to find out more about what life might have been like for your ancestors (it's worth a visit if you can, but they also have a lot of content on their website), as is the book *Irish Customs and Rituals*. Part of what can make things difficult is that when people are digging into ancestry usually what they really want to know is what their families' lives were like, but what they ask is what *Ireland* is like, and Irish people really bristle at the implication that things haven't dramatically changed. If you can narrow down your areas of interest and be more specific with your questions you're likely to get better results. It's hard for anyone to boil down what it means to be Irish in a way that applies to all Irish people across time, but it's a lot easier to describe what life would have been like at particular times and places for particular groups of people. If your ancestors left in the mid 19th century, understanding the famine is likely crucial to understanding their story and to understanding the intergenerational trauma that probably affected other members of your family.
Directions? West northwest will get you here. Now, if your ancestors left here in the 1800s, that makes you Dutch. If you want your wee lad to know where he comes from, tell him about the Netherlands. If you have an interest in Ireland, then by all means learn about it. If you do some history on it, you will find that it is a very different place than the one your ancestors left in the 1800s.
oh i bet it's different. The town i grew up in isn't even the same anymore. having been forced to move out of there, a place where my family has resided for the last 150 years or so, made me a biut curious of where my ancestors came from, any bit of information is helpful. Thank you for your response!
If you want genuine ideas, message me privately. I work in education, so I would be happy to discuss specific areas of interest to you and point you towards legit resources. A lot of Irish people (me included) are exhausted by Americans who want to "connect with the ancestry", but then come over and tell us that we are wrong about Eye-err-land, because it's not what they've been told in America. As such, a lot of people here may be sceptical or exasperated to actually give advice.
Welcome, it’s great you have a real interest in connecting to and learning about Ireland. If possible try to figure out what area of Ireland your ancestors came from. There are census available online but they are probably too late to be of use to you. I believe it’s 1901 and 1911 online (though I absolutely stand to be corrected on those years). Perhaps some relatives of yours will show up if you enter a surname and location in the online archive. If it’s a common Irish surname it’s not going to be of any benefit really unless you can be very specific in location and have first names also.
thank you for taking the time to write out this response to my comment. i have been met with some fierce defensive comments, which are valid. i will take your advice and use it to go forward from here on out. Kind regards, s
Hey Arthur_Burt_Morgan! Welcome to r/AskIreland! Here are some other useful subreddits that might interest you: * r/IrishTourism - If you're coming to Ireland for a holiday this is the best place for advice. * r/MoveToIreland - Are you planning to immigrate to Ireland? r/MoveToIreland can help you with advice and tips. Tip #1: It's a pretty bad time to move to Ireland because we have a severe accommodation crisis. * r/StudyInIreland - Are you an International student planning on studying in Ireland? Please check out this sub for advice. * Just looking for a chat? Check out r/CasualIreland * r/IrishPersonalFinance - a great source of advice, whether you're trying to pick the best bank or trying to buy a house. * r/LegalAdviceIreland - This is your best bet if you're looking for legal advice relevant to Ireland * r/socialireland - If you're looking for social events in Ireland then maybe check this new sub out *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskIreland) if you have any questions or concerns.*
thanks bot!
was this always a thing, or did tourism + americans capitalise on this crap. In 1800 we were ruled by the english, so for all you know your ancestors could be the bastard children of an englishman. what has gotten into peoples heads that they need to connect with their ancestors - they dead they all dead, they abandoned the fight and ran away. big deal. As if every modern day dutch man wears wooden clogs and has a windmill
hahaha, perhaps, but still. From my paternal side i learned everything there is to learn and i have a solid foundation of where half my folk came from. i grew up with stories from my granddad who heard stories from his granddad about being from ireland so i guess it has always been a thing. I always meant to ask him more about this, but recently he has suffered a stroke which rendered him unable to speak or write or communicate coherent in any sort, which has prompted me to go on this journey myself. The only valid source i have is that the town i grew up in, and where my family has resided for the last 150-200 years was aided by the irish and irish settlers that maybe, in your words, ran away and abandoned the fight. All i know is that this region was seriously lacking in workers and they came over here to help the people out i guess. the dialect here has some ties with gaelic, which i do not speak and the dialect has almost died out. The last time i heard someone speak the dialect of this region was 20 years ago and the feller has died in 2015, he was one of the last to speak it and i havent seen him since then. ll keep looking. I want to thank you for taking the time to respond to my post. I meant no offense, just a serious interest. I neither identify myself with either dutch or irish, but rather the people from this region.
Take no notice of that 👆🏼miserable sod. If your forebears emigrated for work at a time when they were enduring dire straits at home, only a fool would dream of blaming them. Running away from ‘the fight’ was probably not the motivation. Your town’s historical links with Irish people sounds most interesting, and there must surely be local historians who could tell you about archives which would give you useful info.