I am researching family from Ireland. My great great Uncle David Porter is listed in US Census records as being from Cork, Ireland (born1848). He, Jane Porter (b.1844) and Margaret (b. 1843) and Thomas (b. 1862) are all listed as being born in County Cork, while George (My Great Grandfather b. 1860) is listed as being born in Northern Ireland. There was another sister named Elizabeth who, according to family history, died enroute to the U.S. In the family history passed down, their parents are listed as Martha Patterson Porter and James Porter who also immigrated to the US. As I am looking at family history, some information is a bit confusing and I would like to find out how to clarify all of this. I do not see very many public records that match family history outside of US Census records stating that they are from these respective areas of Ireland. I also realize that family history may be inaccurate because of the prejudice that occurred in the late 1800s/early1900s when they were first in the U.S. (Batavia, Genesee County, New York). I also wonder, were they all the same family or two separate families? I'd appreciate any insight or help. Thanks.

Hello,

You did not mention the religious denomination of the family but from what I am seeing in available online church records, it looks like they may have belonged to the Church of Ireland.

What is available in church records depends on their denomination and where they were from and what has survived. Some records go back to the 1600's, some didn't start until the mid-19th century.

I see only four people called Porter in Cork in Griffiths Valuation (1840's-1860's - names Charles, Denis, John, Richard) - it is unclear whether one of these could be your gg-grandfather since none of these names were mentioned. There are several George Porters listed in northern counties.

The church records freely available online cover only a portion of Cork Roman Catholic records. North and East Cork RC records are available via fee-based sites, as are some C of I records. Many C of I records were destroyed in the 1922 Dublin fire.

You can check Griffiths online and search all of Ireland,
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

Also the church records freely online (with more records due to come online later this year),
http://www.irishgenealogy.ie

And also check the fee-based sites:

Mallow Heritage Center,
http://www.mallowheritagecentre.com/

Cobh Genealogical Project - for C of I records for Cork,
http://www.cork.anglican.org/resources/genealogy.html

More info on Griffiths and church records here,
http://www.corkgen.org/publicgenealogy/cork/genealogy.html

One possibility to consider is if a member of the family had a specialty trade or profession. If so, they could be listed in a city or county Cork directory. Some directories are online or partially online.

Or, taking a day to visit the fee-based site http://www.origins.net/ might be worth it for trawling through any Porter matches. (Costs maybe 9 British pounds for a 24 hour subscription.)

Still other possibilities are trawling through the Irish Times new archives:
http://www.irishtimes.com/archive/

Or the Irish news archives:
http://www.irishnewsarchive.com/

You can practice formulating your searches for free then if you think you see something you want to look at in more detail I think you can buy as little as a one day subscription.

Hello, You took a census from my records of 1880 in Batavia Ny of my GGG grandparents Mary and John Odonnell...Interested in the connection and if you can share any information, John and Marys daughter Margaret is my GG Grandmother whom married Charles Beasman and moved to Utica NY...any information that you ca share would be cherished to no end...The connection may be through...John and Marys son Patrick.... Thank You for your time, Mari Stolpman-Eastman