I would like to see if I can find some more information on the family and heritage of my great-great-great grandfather John Birchman Collins. Here is the information I have for him:
John Birchman (may be Berchman) Collins, born in January 1835 in Donegal, Ireland. He died on November 9 1913 in California, Pennsylvania, USA. His wife's name was Anna Mary Crowley Collins and she was from County Cork.
US census records show that he came to the US in 1861 and his wife in 1859, so I believe they met and married in the US.
I would love to connect with family still in Ireland, but I would also like to know if he had any siblings in America.
LyneaDG
Monday 30th Dec 2013, 03:26AMMessage Board Replies
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Hi,
Thank you for your message.
It will be easier to find information on John if you can narrow down a more specific place of origin in CO. Donegal. Do you have any documentation pertaining to the family that mentions any place names in Donegal at all? This can include wills, marriage/death records,census records, letters, diary entries etc.
There are some places where you can search online, however it may be difficult to discern whether the results are relevant to your family or not without more information:
www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.
www.rootsireland.ie have a large collection of Irish Church records, however you have to pay to use this site.
I did a search for John Collins in Griffith?s Valuation. This is a property valuation survey carried out in Ireland 1848-64. Here are the results for CO. Donegal:
Although the above does not give any genealogical information the parishes may be a starting point for you if all else fails.
Some other websites that you may find helpful are:
The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/
The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx
The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/
The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm
Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/index.htm
Irish Genealogy Tool kit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/
Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/donegal/index.html
From Ireland: www.from-ireland.net
Donegal Genealogy Resources: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~donegal/
Best wishes,
Genealogy Support
Emma Carty
Tuesday 18th Feb 2014, 01:12PM