The Fitzgerald Family Find

This week brought more information to my 3rd Great Grandparents family!  I recently wrote to the Diocese of Harrisburg after finding that my family was catholic.  Through reseach, I discovered that the Diocese provides a research service for a fee.  I printed out the research request for and filled in the information that I had and sent off the form and the research fee.  It didn't take very long to get a return. 
The letter returned gave me some history on the diocese and the churches....again fire is my nemesis, the church bured to the ground completely, all records being lost.  Although, I did glean some information about the family. 
The information provided to me included the births, baptisms and full names of three of the Fitzgerald children.  It also provided very different spellings of names....for example, John's name was spelled Joanne Fitzgerald and John Jr's name spelled Joannem.  At first thought I was thinking this was the Irish version of the name John, but after some inquires on Genealogywise, there is no 'J' in the Gaelic language....which means I'm searching for the wrong name in Irish records.  Come to find out, Joanne and Joannem is the latin form of John, which makes sense seems so many early catholic records are written in latin.  The irish form of John is Eoin.
But the records gave me the births and baptisms of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th youngest Fitzgerald children.  And another place to write to for additional information on the family.  I'm composing my letter next! 
The lesson here: Don't forget the good old tried and true research methods, even in this day and age of technology!

Happy Hunting!

The Brickwall Comes Tumbling Down

Recently my focus has been on my Fitzgerald ancestors, specifically John and Emily (Tennyson) Fitzgerald's family.  I have been doing a lot of collateral or cluster research.  I have been tracing down their children as far as I can chase them....some farther than others.  All this in preparation for the trip to Pennsylvania with my family (the trip has been postponed again due to my recent new job...but that's for another day).  Anyway, this family has been m brickwall for 10 years! 
A few weeks ago I requested a death record transcription from a wonderful volunteer via Random Acts of Genealogical Kindess for John and Emily's youngest son, Edward.  Edward moved to Iowa, had a family, then died in Los Angeles at the home of his daughter.  He and his wife are buried in Inglewood Cemetery in Inglewood, California.  Imagine my joy when, on Edward's death certificate, John's city of birth in Ireland was recorded!  So know I know that my 3rd Great Grandfather was born in the City of Cork, County Cork, Ireland!  Now I still don't have John's parent's names, but I have a great detail about my ancestry!  AND it's a very exciting discovery. 
So maybe the brickwall hasn't come completely down, but I think I have broken a big chunk out of it!
Happy Hunting!