Not just Crystal in Waterford, There Might Be (Genealogical) Gold by Ray Marshall

One of the interesting things about genealogy is that even though we may not know anything about someone else's relatives, we often are able to benefit from becoming acquainted with their research. We don't really care whether or not they are successful. But we do enjoy reading their "story" to figure out if we might be able to adapt their methods to our own projects.

I am descended from a long line of William Scanlon's (six of them in my files) who originated in Co. Waterford. Now Waterford you say, that shouldn't be a problem. Small Irish county, about 720 square miles or about 20 x 60 miles, that shouldn't be hard to find one's ancestors, should it? Well . . . .

I "know" that it is Waterford because my gg grandfather, William, carved his own tombstone which is in the Negaunee, MI, cemetery. If you go to all that effort to claim another county on your tombstone, that would have to be either denial or status seeking. And I have no other information. so Waterford must be the place.

William ("Bill", I like to call him) was born in 1803, according to his 1885 death certificate, which states only "Ireland" as his place of B

birth. A Michigan census entry for his son, also "Bill", indicates that the younger Bill came to this country about 1860. I can only assume that they traveled together, and more importantly, that they were in Waterford when the Griffiths Valuation of property, that indispensable Irish census substitute was taken in 1850. Griffiths lists renters of property and their landlords and the value placed on those properties.

So off to Griffiths I went, figuring that at the most there would be only a couple of William Scanlon's in tiny Waterford. Well, there were Scanlon or Scanlan families in all of the Baronies of Waterford. 66 families in all. And ten of these families were headed by a man named William. I plotted each of these William Scanlon families upon a copy of a map of the County to see if I might find a pattern. None was obvious which would help me in concentrating my search.

Even if I could find information on each of these families, that would be no proof that we were related unless I could find information about Bill's wife or a long list of children which agreed with a list found in this country. Unfortunately, I know of no other children other than my g grandfather.

A trip to Michigan, to pour over the records proved to be a big help. Michigan has many nice attributes, not the least of which is the fact when you drag yourself down to the local Courthouse and ask about death records, they just point to a pile of books and say "help yourself." At the time, my intention was only to grab as many dates as I could of my Irish relatives.

Among the many names I found, was one of a Margaret Scanlon who I thought was a sister to my grandfather who had died in infancy and whose gravestone I had earlier noted.

Uh, Uh. it wasn't my grandfather's sister; closer examination showed that it was my grandfather's grandmother, the senior Bill's wife!!! (That's what comes when you have too many William's in your line). And furthermore, it listed her father's name as being John Fox! I discovered later that there is a Clan Fox, headed by, get this, "The Fox." I have misplaced my reference, but I believe he lives in Australia.

Now's here where we make an assumption. The family was Catholic and probably poor and without mobility. Therefore, the Fox's must have lived close to the Scanlon's so that the courtship and marriage might result.

Dashing back to my friendly neighborhood genealogical society library, notebook in hand, I hurriedly grabbed the Griffiths microfiche and took down all the Fox's in Waterford. Fortunately, I found only 10 of them. I then pulled out my map copies and gazetteer and plotted the names on the map. The Scanlon map was then compared with the Fox map, and lo and behold, in the Civil Parish of Lismore and McCollop where 27 of Waterford's Scanlons lived, I found a John Fox (the only Fox in the Parish), living in the Townland of Garrison, adjacent to the small village of Ballyduff, where a William Scanlon was found to be living. No other Fox's lived remotely near to a Scanlon family. I have thus declared Ballyduff and Garrison to be "home."

Now, I don't consider this necessarily "proof" that these were my relatives, but the information is one heck of a lot better than what I had before (none). Last October I sent a letter to the Waterford Heritage Center, detailing my researches and asked for their advice and help. I have not yet heard back. It is my understanding that they have access to the local Catholic parish registers (many of which have not been filmed by the LDS) and have indexed them. Cross your fingers and wish me luck. And if you run across "The Fox", tell him I am looking for him.

First printed in The Septs, quarterly Journal Of the Irish Genealogical Society, International