For the year of the gathering 2013, I finally completed my family tree on the Kennedys of Effin. I am very proud of my ancestry as they have fought and died for our rights and the rights of our country. Our ancestors have lived through some of Ireland’s darkest hours, from the famine and survived two world wars. They have spread their wings to the four corners of the globe. In researching my family tree have found it very interesting and it has given me a deeper understand my roots and linked me to what was going on in Ireland and the world and all these have helped to shape us and my family today.

During my research, I found the following links helpful in this piece of research.

1. http://www.ancestry.co.uk.  – this was my choice – and I used the software called Family Tree Maker which linked all updates to their online site
2. http://www.myheritage.com

However, both sites require payment to search their records.

Speak to older members of your family to get their memories. – Initially, I spoke to the older members of the family to write down their relations (sadly some have now passed on, so was glad to have done it.)

Graveyards

An invaluable source for getting dates and working out their year of birth.

Both Effin and Kilquane Graveyards are now digitally recorded on the http://www.historicgraves site.  This was a joint project between local volunteers and Ballyhoura.

Effin – https://historicgraves.ie/graveyard/effin/li-effn

Kilquane https://historicgraves.ie/graveyard/kilquane/li-klqn

Parish Register Records

This website contains images from the NLI’s collection of Catholic parish register microfilms. The registers contain records of baptisms and marriages from the majority of Catholic parishes in Ireland and Northern Ireland up to 1880.

Effin and Garrienderk :  https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0882

The national Census of Ireland

The 1901 and 1911 censuses are the only surviving full censuses of Ireland open to the public. Both censuses cover the island of Ireland. They were released to public inspection in 1961, because of the stream of requests for information about people’s ages, particularly those born before civil registration of births began in 1864.

The 1901 census was taken on 31^st March 1901. The 1911 census was taken on 2 April 1911.

See if you can find your ancestors in the link below

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

Tithe Applotment Books

If your family was in Effin around 1823 – 1837 you may find them on the Tithe Applotment Books for the parish, however, only the head of the family was named on the list.

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/pagestab/Limerick/Effin/

There are other useful links you may use, like the local library and the Ordnance Survey Maps the find what buildings, houses were in the area at different times.

http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,559319,623172,5,9

So why not get started and start your family tree, it’s a fantastic legacy to pass on to your children and grandchildren, after all, to find out where we are going we need to understand where we came from.