does anyone know what happend back in ireland

Question

my grandma Charity O'Neil refuse talk about it because her family move to New York City from Ireland to have start new life because her grandad didn't want talk about it

yes, i know my family wont talk about it because they don't know. so my brother and his wife went to Ireland to have fun and decide go see church and everything but nothing show up for O'Neil. we're  pretty sure everyone died from Famine (how do you Spell) and on my dillon family refuse too.

Comments

My family also has the "Ireland" story in our history. It's been told that the Sanfords of Ireland attempted to overthrow the ruling clan family and were sent packing and the Sanford tartan was destroyed. I've just now begun my ancestry research and I'm looking forward to finding out if there is any actual truth.

Answer 1

First of all you need a life span for Granny Charity, and for her parents and grandparents.  That means the descendants of Charity's grandfather and that's five generations counting you

So you would need information on the immigration to the USA death records burial records marriage records birth records for any of them that you can locate

Have you searched www.familysearch.org for Charity O'Neill and whatever her married name or names were?

Comments

We wish We tried and tried she died in 1991

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You should probably get a copy of her death certificate which will hopefully indicate how old she was. It sounds like she was born in New York, is that right? If you known when she was born and whether she had brothers and sisters, you'll be able to make a guess at the birthdates of her parents. Then you can try to trace them back to Ireland. Do you know which county? Once you have a date range, you can do a better search.

You should start with the facts that you know. Death certificate, birth certificate, marriage certificate. These all may name parents to give you a start.

It is very possible that the reason for leaving was very personal and so you may not find out. For instance, my great-grandmother left Ireland maybe because she was an orphan. She came to NY when she was 20. Her two aunts lived here, so she may have thought there were more job opportunities here. I don't know, but I can only guess. Previous generations didn't talk much and certainly didn't want to air any dirty laundry.

Answer 2

Your family may have been involved with the Fenian Brotherhood or Young Irelanders. You can see a little bit of what they were involved in at Space:Time_Line_Irish_History. It was a very rebellious time in Ireland just after the Great Hunger (An Gorta Mor)

Another possibility is your GGfather was involved with Colonel John O'Neill (relative?) in the Fenian raids into West Canada

On the other hand they may not have been involved in any fighting. Just living through the Great Famine would affect someone for the rest of their life.