Genealogical Society Hears from Genealogist on Her Ancestors from Ireland

Professional Genealogist Mary Kircher Roddy from the National Genealogical Society made a stop at July's meeting of the local branch.

She talked about her research on the Bradley family, her ancestors. Rev James Bradley was pastor at St. Patrick's in Newry for 51 years, from 1832 to when he passed away in 1883.

"I used him to figure out all about the siblings and where they came from in Ireland. I was really just interested in my great-great grandfather's brother. At first, I didn't know there was a whole bunch of them, but there were six boys and four girls."

She has been able to find where the people came from in Ireland, but she wanted to learn more about these people. So, she has been doing research since she has arrived to the area. She went to Cambria County and found some deeds. She was also in the Blair County courthouse and found a petition in Orphan's court that gave her more information. She is also hoping that someone at the society might say, "You should take a look at this."

Roddy explained that it is really important not to just research your own ancestry.

"This talk really shows how valuable whole family research can be," she said. "If I had only researched my great-great grandfather...he was a farmer, died at age 54 with a widow and seven children. He didn't leave a lot of records. I would not have known anything about where he came from. By researching all of the family, I was able to see how interconnected they were and how much they supported each other."

She added that a lot of people just tend to research their own ancestors.

Roddy said that she doesn't think that you can do particularly Irish research without paying attention to the friends, associates, neighbors and family.

Roddy is the co-editor of The National Genealogical Society Quarterly, which is a scholarly peer reviewed journal, as well as a trustee of the Board of Certification of Genealogists.