Finding Your American Cousins

Your ancestors left here and went to America. What happened to them? Where did they go? If you can “jump the pond” with your research, you may be able to fill in gaps in your family tree and connect with cousins who have precious family photos and letters. Donna Moughty, a professional genealogist based in America, is presenting a special talk this side of the pond in October.

Jumping the Pond to find your relatives in the United States requires a knowledge of the US record sources. Records can be found at the federal, state or local level, so you will need to do your homework. Common names can lead to confusion, so it’s important to know as much as possible about your emigrant prior to beginning your research.

The most important piece of information is the locality of your ancestor, definitely the state, probably the county, and hopefully the city or town. If you don’t know that information you must dig through records at home to harvest as much information as possible.

This exploration will look at the types of records available in the United States focusing particularly on those that are online.

• What do you need to know to begin
• Organisation of US records
• What Records are available for the time and place where your relatives settled
• US Census records
• Immigration and Naturalisation
• Vital (Civil) records
• Strategies for using the records
• Should I do a DNA test? (Spoiler alert: the answer is yes)

Your American cousins may be looking for you! Learn how to find them and connect with them.

This event is organised by the NIFHS
as part of its 40th Anniversary Year of Celebrations.

History of the Society

Search Leader

Donna Moughty,

a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and the Genealogist Speakers Guild (GSG), is a researcher, lecturer and blogger on topics including Methodology, Internet, Irish research and computer topics. She is the author of the Quick Reference Guides for Irish Research and conducts Irish research trips each year.

Join the Search Team

Donna Moughty on YouTube

Researching Irish Ancestors

Irish genealogy research is challenging, so it’s important to follow a proven process. Donna Moughty and Lisa Louise Cooke discuss where to start, defining your research goal, gathering the information in the U.S. that you will need to research in Ireland, and how research in Irish records has changed dramatically.

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Guide to How to Research Irish Genealogy

Catch up with Irish family history expert, Donna Moughty, to find tips in getting started, important collections to use like Griffith’s Valuation and some of her favourite places to travel.