DID YOU KNOW that Jedward’s great, great grandfather, Patrick Condron, broke the law by allowing a cow, calf and goat to wander in the public road and was fined one shilling? His father, Henry Condron died in 1900 leaving behind his wife and 11 children. After his death, his wife took over as lock keeper of the Dublin Canal.
Also, Imelda May’s ancestry lies beyond The Liberties with connections traced to Longford, Antrim and Wicklow and Brendan O’Carroll’s grandfather, Peter O’Carroll, lived two doors away from a Mrs Brown on Manor Street in the early part of the 20th century.
If this sort of Irish family history interests you, you’re in luck because today is Irish Family History Day and to celebrate FindMyPast.ie, an Irish family history website, has released 21 million Irish birth, marriage and death records ranging from the 1840s right up until the 1950s.
Bringing the total number of Irish records on the site to over 63 million, it will make researching the family tree accessible to millions of people with Irish descent.
With The Gathering taking place this year, Cliona Weldon, General Manager at FindMyPast.ie, says they expect more people wanting to be Irish than ever before:
There has never been a better time to research your family tree. Despite our economic woes and our bad weather, it seems that everybody still wants to be Irish. Over 600,000 people visited our site last year alone looking to prove their Irish heritage. With visitors from all over the world and with 22 American Presidents having claimed Irish ancestry, it seems being Irish is still extremely desirable, and of course with 2013 being the year of The Gathering, we are expecting more searches than ever.
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