Saturday 12 January 2019

Research in Real Time

Map of Australia with the British Isles 1922

 
So, where are my staff genealogists? You know, the ones they have on genealogy programs who put everything together to wow the celebrity and show the audience the possibilities and the ease with which the research can be done. Of course, they come up with connections and interesting stories. They have the manpower and expertise and, if they don't find anything of interest, they don't feature that celebrity on their show.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, given that last comment) the only researcher trying to figure out how to get my London Cavanagh line back to Ireland is me. I have my great grandfather, Henry Cavanagh, confirmed back to the 1881 census where he was living with his wife and children at 82 Wentworth Street in Whitechapel. I can't find any of them back in the 1871 census and haven't proved which family Henry belongs to in 1861 when he would most likely have been living with his birth family. I do have a suspicion as to which family he belongs to but how to prove it?

One strategy will be to research the descendants of Henry's potential brothers and sisters to see if there are any documented connections with Henry or his family. Most of the potential siblings married and named their father as Benjamin Cavanagh, whose given professions were all in the building trade, another confirming clue that at least they all belong together. Family memories provided another clue to Henry Cavanagh's birth family. I was told that my great grandfather had a brother Ben who went to Australia to live or went to Australia and came back. There was indeed a Benjamin Cavanagh of around the right age who named his father as Benjamin Cavanagh in the building trade and it would be just typical of my family that I would have to research family links with Australia to find out more about my Irish heritage!

Image:

By Oregon State University Archives - Map of Australia and New ZealandUploaded by geagea, No restrictions,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12020265 
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2 comments:

  1. Wondering5 February 2019 at 07:18

    The WDYTYA series has been a boon and a curse for genealogy. On the one hand, a LOT more people are curious about their ancestors, which leads to people talking about their families. This is definitely a good thing. And now for the curse. Do you find when you share /talk about your ongoing research (aka banging head against walls for ages and ages before uncovering ONE tiny fact about your family history that you can reliably connect to your family) that friends and family wonder what you're on about because it happens like magic on TV?

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    Replies
    1. HistoryExplorer15 March 2019 at 12:30

      Yes, I often wish I had one of those helpful genealogists to tell me which wonderful record repository I should visit next when searching for my ancestors. It's a good thing that we enjoy the hunt and have personal satisfaction in finding that one good fact because I doubt we would ever wow our non-genealogical audience.

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