Researching My Irish Ancestry

All we knew was his name: John Gibbons (Pictured Left).

Do you know how many John Gibbons there were in the New England area?

I tried researching on my own, but how could I know whether the John Gibbons I found in various census records or city directories was actually our John Gibbons? We knew from the 1920 and 1930 censuses that he was born in Connecticut and that both of his parents were born in Ireland (or the Irish Free State). But where in Ireland? When did they come to the United States? Did they immigrate as a married couple, or did they meet here? What were their names? Who were his siblings?

There were so many questions. We also knew there would be challenges because many Irish records were lost during the Irish Civil War.

We needed help.

I had exhausted my limited knowledge of researching. Enter FOREVER Genealogy.

We had previously completed a one-hour consultation when the service was first offered at FOREVER, and we received some great assistance while researching my Danish grandfather, who emigrated to the United States. But this time, we decided we needed a full research project to see if we could trace our family back to Ireland.

During the first month, the team found my Irish great-grandfather's marriage record to my Portuguese great-grandmother. While we already knew he died in 1936, they uncovered newspaper articles reporting that he had been struck by a car and suffered injuries that ultimately caused his death.

With the death date and location, they recommended ordering his death certificate, which provided his parents' names. That information allowed us to identify them in the U.S. Census records and uncover not only my great-grandfather's birth records in Connecticut but also records showing that many of his siblings were born in the United States as well.

Month two brought even more discoveries.

Now that we had my great-great-grandparents' names, the researchers located their death notices and marriage record. We learned that they were married in the United States rather than Ireland. We also were able to confirm gravestones and identify their children, which helped corroborate information we had already found in census records.

However, with only one month left in our research project and such common Irish surnames, I wasn’t sure we would make it back to Ireland within our three-month research window.

Keri at FOREVER Genealogy recommended pausing the project while we ordered the full death certificates for my great-great-grandparents in hopes that they would include their parents' names. I ordered the records from Boston, Massachusetts. They took nearly eight weeks to arrive, but they were worth the wait. Both certificates listed the fathers’ names, and one included the maiden name of my great-great-grandfather's mother.

Month three came a few months later because of the pause while we waited for the records.

When we met with FOREVER genealogists to review their findings, I approached the call with low expectations. I knew how difficult my own research had been, and we still didn’t have complete information. There were simply too many people with the same Irish names.

But they worked their magic.

They found a likely match for my great-great-great grandparents, Patrick and Anne Gibbons, in Ireland. They carefully tested their hypothesis, looking for evidence to support and disprove the connection. So far, the evidence looks very promising.

For the first time, I felt hopeful that we had finally traced our family back to Ireland.

I wanted to continue the research, but this time we shifted to a coaching project. I genuinely enjoy doing the research myself and felt like I now had enough information to continue on my own, while still benefiting from guidance from the FOREVER Genealogy team.

I was eventually able to track down details on both sides of our Irish ancestry.