I have decided to start this blog as a kind of self reference, for me and other amateur genealogists that I am associated with.
I suppose the best way to start is to show a little background on what I have found out about my own family history over the last three years or so.
I was always interested in stories about my family history, my father is a character, and he has certainly been around the block, and is probably one of the reasons why I take such an interest.
My family name is Curran, I grew up in London, but now live in Dublin Ireland, I met my lovely wife Anne in London she is from Dublin, so thats how I ended up here, coincidently my Dad is actually from the same area of Dublin as my wife, and grew up only 1/2 a mile away from my wife.
I will go more into detail about him another time, but for now I will tell you where I stand genealogically, now as I said, my Dad is from Drumcondra, on the northside of Dublin, his mum and dad were both from county Carlow, Martin, his dad was a policeman from Drumphea, and Margaret, his mother was from Ballypierce. at this moment I will dwell on the Currans, so going back again my great grandfather was Francis Curran, probably from Drumphea too, he was married to Saragh Doyle who from Bealalaw, just around the corner. my great great grandfather on the Curran line was Martin Curran possibly from Knocklonagad. thats as far back as i can go there, that's back to 1788 when he was born, though that is only what it says on his tombstone. he was married to Anne Nolan. there are lots of little splinters around but I will go into them in greater detail in the future. my granny, Margaret Doyle, I can trace her back to c1790. my father was married twice so I am also looking into Ivy Taylors history too. my grandfather Martin Curran was also married twice, so I am looking at his first wifes past too, her name was Margaret Gaul and she was from knocksguire, county Carlow.
On my mothers side, my mum was born in Waterford city, but grew up in Cork. her name is Mary O'Rorke, I can trace the O'Rorkes back to 360ad, yes you are reading correctly, 360ad, her mother was Brigid Cooke from Kilmacow, county kilkenny, i haven't made a positive connection yet, but i have been assured by fellow genealogist, Ciaran Cooke in Galway, that the Cookes from Kilmacow can be traced back to 1500's Carlow town, and the back again to Norfolk, England.
I am also looking into my wifes family history, her name is Mills, and at the moment they are traced to mid 1800's Kilcullen, county Kildare. Annes grandmother on the Mills side was Elizabeth Jones from Garth Bach, Carnarvonshire, Wales and is traceable to the mid 1800's also. It has been said that she was related to David Lloyd George. Annes mum is a Brophy, they can be traced to mid 1800's Dublin city, on that side also is the Kellys' who can be traced back to early 1800's county Cavan.
Genealogy to me is a life long study, a work in progress so to speak, with the advent of the TV show, "Who do you think you are", alot of recent interest seems to be shown in that direction, and when i end up talking to people about genealogy, the subject of this TV show comes up. Also the fact that you can see a whole lot more today online, is such ground breaking stuff. As you can see, the majority of my study is in ireland, and magnified around the south east. A few advantages are befalled to me, firstly I live in Ireland, and nothing is too far away. next is the accessability to all the public records offices in Dublin, right on my doorstep. Irelands largest cemetery is literally a stones throw from my house, as is Irelands only Latter day saints church, which has a family history centre in it. This place has proved to be an endless source of information for me, and the people there, particularly Catherine have been so helpful, Catherine was the lady that put me on my first steps of tracing my family history, and I would like to say here, thank you, and how grateful I will always be to her.
the way I am going to get this blog going is by just going from family to family, and what I know about them for the first few weeks, and then the rest will be a journal of my progress. So therefore, I will start with my family name, Curran, maybe tell a little of myself, and work my way back, and any other incidentals.
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