The Ballycastle Blog: Irish Genealogy and More

Throughout the peak Irish emigration years, it was very common for a number of Irish people from the same Irish village to settle in the same American city when they emigrated to America. For example, people from a small village just west of Belmullet, County Mayo, Ireland, all came to Holyoke, Massachucetts and settled there with their friends and families. Likewise, people from Achill Island, County Mayo, Ireland, all came to Cleveland, Ohio, when they emigrated to America. Hence, today you’ll find a large sign on Achill Island proudly proclaiming that its sister city is Cleveland, Ohio, USA. It is estimated that up to a quarter of the population of the Ohio city can be traced back to the West of Ireland and to Achill Island in particular.

Knowing where one Irish American family in an American city originated in Ireland, may lead to the origins of other Irish American families in the same American city.

Let us know what Irish villages sent Irish emigrants to your city.

See more Irish family history articles and lessons learned in earlier posts below and in the archives.

When reviewing and extracting information from an old handwritten U.S. or Irish document, you should look at the entire document to determine the unique handwriting traits of the official who completed the document long ago. From these unique handwriting traits, you can identify how the official formed the individual letters in words on the document. For example, on a handwritten birth certificate, a person’s surname, written in script, appears to have the letter “r” in it. On closer inspection, comparing the script surname with other script word entries on the certificate reveals that the “r” is actually an “e”. If there is any doubt or question about an illegible name on a document, it is smart to look at all of the handwritten words and entries in the document to help solve the mystery of the illegible name.