Where was my forebear Thomas born?
Q Thomas Heaney was my great grandfather. His father was also Thomas Heaney (shown as deceased on Thomas junior’s 1878 marriage record). Thomas junior first appears in the Staffordshire census in 1881, recorded as a police officer. The censuses indicate a birth of 1849, Glasgow. Before working in Staffordshire, he served in the Irish police force for five years (he enrolled at 21 and was posted to Wicklow). I’ve looked for a birth record for Thomas in and around Glasgow with no luck, as well as across Ireland. How can I find him?
Kevin Merchant
A This may feel like looking for a needle in a haystack, but there are still a few options to try. First, the name Heaney has many variants, including O’Heaney, Heany and Hainey, and is often also used interchangeably with Heagney or Hegney.
If Thomas was born in Glasgow in the 1840s, Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) hosts the largest online collection of Scottish Catholic baptismal records. If he was Protestant, check the Old Parish Registers and ‘Other Records’ on ScotlandsPeople (scotlandspeople.gov.uk), although not all Glasgow church records are online, and additional registers are held by Glasgow City Archives (www.glasgowfamilyhistory.org.uk/ExploreRecords/Pages/Non-conformist-Church.aspx). If born in Glasgow, he might be found there in the 1851–1871 censuses with his father. If his father died between 1855 and 1878, the death record should be on ScotlandsPeople.
If his father claimed poor relief in Glasgow between 1845 and 1878, an application may note Thomas junior in Staffordshire as one of his children. Records are at Glasgow City Archives (www.glasgowfamilyhistory.org.uk/ExploreRecords/Pages/Poor-Law.aspx).
I assume you found his record of service with the Royal Irish Constabulary via the digitised collection on Findmypast. It is worth noting that this records him as a native of Longford, Dublin.
Try narrowing down your search to this area and using some of the suggested surname variants. At the Staffordshire end, see if Thomas ever received poor relief after leaving the police force, because this may include valuable information about his background (staffsnameindexes.org.uk/default.aspx).
Finally, an autosomal DNA test through AncestryDNA (ancestry.co.uk/dna) may enable you to connect with genetic cousins to help pinpoint other Heaney family members in Glasgow or Ireland.
Chris Paton
QUICK TIP
Check local archive websites
Many archives have indexes of local name-rich record sets online, and some have enhanced catalogue entries and old photographs.