This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/XZH.2ACIB/170.209.1.1.2.1.1.1
Message Board Post:
The best book I have found for English research is
"DISCOVERING YOUR ENGLISH ANCESTORS, How to find and record your unique
heritage" by Paul Milner & Linda Jonas published 2000 by Betterway Books of
Cincinnati, Ohio, ISBN # 1-55870-536-8 (see at
www.familytreemagazine.com)
The best book I have found for Irish research is
"IRISH RECORDS, Sources for family & Local History" by James G. Ryan,
published by Flyleaf Press, Dublin Ire. 1988 but updates more recently. ISBN #
0-916489-22-1
I suggest you try to order these at your local public library via inter-branch library
loan system.
What city do you live in, I can give you the address of your nearest LDS (Mormon) Library
where you should request information regarding their most knowlegable librarian in the
field of Ireland. Find out what her hours are, and go in at that time. You will save
yourself a lot of time and effort if you are dealing with someone experienced in Irish
research (I am not).
If the Irish deceased had property, or rights to property in England, then a probate and
Will will be filed in England as well as Ireland. I believe most Irish Cannings were
Roman Catholic. Research in Ireland is best done by a Roman Catholic Irish researcher.
They have access to material denied to non Irish Roman Catholics. How much research have
you done at Salt Lake or one of the branch libraries?
Believe me, any Cannings related in any way to the Prime Minister have all their records
available and every single family member is mentioned in those Wills, either as being left
something, or as being left nothing because of prior circumstances which are usually
listed and are sometimes quite entertaining. There are civil lawsuits filed over Wills
which will further enlighten you. I am sure there is a newer and possibly better book on
Irish Research that is now out, but the English one I mentioned is the very Tops...and I
have been reading the ALL for 22 years.
Remember you first need the Wills (or Probate Packet) of your grandfather(& or
mother), the great grandparents , and so forth right back to at least 1700. You CANNOT
& MUST NOT start back in the 1700s and try to work forward. Family traditions, myths
and stories abound in all families, it is easy to be sidetracked by erroneous information
passed down and changed as the years go by. Fitting some family tales into real history in
the face of hard facts can set the researcher back on the heels of reality (and it
should). Do not, on the other hand, fall prey to the temptation to suppress or ignore
unwelcome evidence. DOCUMENTED reality is your quest.
Betty