Quick question for US-based SDMBers…I have a fairly unique surname (Kilcast). My family did a little genealogical digging (through a professional agency) and came up with a grand total of about five (count 'em) remaining individuals in the world (well, the UK and Eire definitely, the ‘Western’ world based on phonebooks). These five consist of my immediate family, including myself.
Since then I’ve come across only two others (both UK, both ‘long-lost cousins’). We’ve traced the name back to a tiny village in the south-east of Eire in the 1800s and no further, and whilst abroad I’ve had no luck tracing it in Australia or various parts of Europe.
I’m not really manic about this, but if anyone out there is interested in this kind of thing, can you recommend any easy-to-use, free resources? There seem to be a million-and-one websites offering family trees, and I don’t have time for trying every single one.
Have you tried the Mormon genaeology site/s? I hear they are quite thorough, although only as good as their sources (hence the old milk-man-father problems, etc).
Nobody tracks down this sort of thing better than the Irish. Get your hands on a County Cork directory (probably available on-line) and write one of the many genealogical services listed there. Shouldn’t cost more than $100 (75 Irish pounds).
I traced my family tree on my mother’s side back to my great, great grandparents, who emmigrated from Sweden in the late 1800s and was fortunate to have found all of my missing relatives (of those still living) but one. I checked my usual geneology links and so far the best I could come up with for you was the following site: http://www.fst.reading.ac.uk/people/abirchg/kilcast.htm Unfortunately, I keep getting an error message that says the connection timed out, so I don’t know if there’s anything helpful to you on that page or not. But I wanted to share it with you in case you can access it even though I can’t.
My maiden name meant soup. But my now name means exactly what it says Hunter. Guess my ancestor in-laws were hunters. Now I need to marry a guy named Gatherer.
I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but I couldn’t help myself when I read this…
I had a friend in high school whose last name was Scissors. Her mother’s maiden name was Cutter. I always thought that was a funny coincidence. You may find your Gatherer yet
