By Alicia Burke
 

"The Irish Diaspora shot the Irish all over the world," said Pat Keeney Geyh, a noted Irish American genealogist, author, and this year’s genealogy instructor at the Milwaukee Irish Fest summer school. She and other volunteers will be on hand during the fest itself, Aug. 16-19, at the lakeside Henry W. Maier Festival Park.

"The tragic thing is that many lost touch with each other. The Diaspora is just ending now," Geyh indicated, discussing how the brain drain of Ireland recently ended. She pointed out that people are finally staying in Ireland because of the rapid economic growth that began in the early 1990s. 

Geyh described the "American wakes" that the Irish used to have years ago because they knew family members who were leaving Ireland were as good as dead to those remaining. They rarely, if ever, saw the émigrés again. 

Today, the Irish stick together in communities all over the world. Geyh said she had never seen a similar culture in her 30 years of genealogy research, which started with her own family on her mother’s side. Geyh herself comes from about eight different cultural backgrounds, which means her exposure to other, mostly European cultures, is diverse. Geyh’s Irish connection is on her mother’s side, with ancestors from Co. Down. 

Irish genealogy is the hardest culture to find thorough records. Many people come to the Irish Culture and Heritage Center (ICHC) to get assistance in finding out more about their ancestors and think they know a lot about their families. Faith O’Connell, one of the co-coordinators for the genealogy tent at Irish Fest, said that, "family history is helpful, but not often right. Lots of information gets commingled between families." Her family comes mostly from Co. Donegal,

O’Connell recommended that beginning searchers write down what they do know about themselves, parents and grandparents. Include where ancestors were from and check the census records from that location. O’Connell said it is easiest to start locally and work back in history. She added that it was almost impossible to go to Ireland and simply look for a name and warned that plenty of homework needs to be done before a genealogical adventure is planned. 

Geyh explained that Irish genealogy is so difficult to trace because many were destroyed in an explosion in 1922, when the revolutionaries occupied the Four Courts building in Dublin where the Irish Public Record Office was located. Whatever information remained from when the Penal Laws were introduced in Ireland in 1695 was destroyed in the blast. 

Priests, who historically played a major role in the documentation of records, did not write down baptisms during this time because they were secretly performing Catholic rites so they would not get into political trouble. That subsequently makes it even more difficult to find solid information for Irish Catholics, Geyh said. 

Yet with all these challenges, there is help. While leading a group on a French Canadian research project, Geyh had the opportunity to know some of the people at Ancestry.com, which she said is "the most powerful genealogical company out there." She should know.

Geyh said that in two minutes or less, she can find a census that lists her great-great-great-grandparents, as well as herself through Ancestry.com’s access to thousands of databases. This year at the fest, Ancestry.com will have four staffers on hand from its Utah headquarters. The group is sponsoring the genealogy tent this year and will work with the ISGW volunteers—O’Connell, Geyh, and others—to lead people in their research on eight computer terminals. 

Both Geyh and O’Connell immensely enjoy their genealogical research which they say it is addictive, suggesting starting with one’s own family tree. Then the network and connections widen, aiding not only in their own family research, but assisting others navigate through their family trees. 

"Helping people to find out a bit more about their own families has become more mainstream," O’Connell said. It is easier to access more information because of the power of the internet, so it is no longer necessary to sit in libraries looking through rolls and rolls of microfilmed census records as it was in the past.
 
 

Resources to Help Get Started  Irish Cultural & Heritage Center Library 2133 W. Wisconsin Ave. Milwaukee, Wis. 53233 414-345-8800 2-8 p.m., Wednesdays Free Access to Ancestry.com as well as other sites, maps, and microfilms.  Ancestry.com $14.95-$24.95/monthly membership fee May be a special running at Irish Fest  The Statue of Liberty-Elllis Island Foundation www.ellisisland.org  www.rootsweb.com/~ote/ships/castle-garden.htm (predates Ellis Island immigration)