A quick intro on research for my Irish roots:

As a child, my mother always told me that her father said his mother was from Ireland; he (my grandfather) never told my mom her name, birthplace in Ireland, age or anything else: All he told my mom was where she was buried. When I went to the cemetery, she was not there.

I checked the census records and only found her on the 1910-1940 in Buffalo, New York.

With the census records, I tried to find other records and nothing panned out, so I decided on posting my little bit of information that I had;

My grandfather was Charles Bowers, born 1908 in Buffalo, N.Y., and his parents were Charles Sr. and wife was Rose, unknown from Ireland. Any help is greatly appreciated.

While searching the census records, I found that there was a Cyrenus Walker living / visiting my g-grandfather and a daughter named Rose Cyrenus. Thinking that was them, I traced their heritage back to Ireland and was so happy, I told my mom. After putting it on Ancestry.com, and a year later, I received a message from another Walker telling me that I had the wrong Cyrenus and Rose in my tree as they had documents on their Walker family and Rose did not marry Charles.

Back to research; In New York state, you have to wait 100 years for a birth certificate of a deceased person unless you are a child of the deceased. I asked my mom to send off for my grandfather's birth certificate -- she did. I contacted Orchard Park, New York, and they told me that they had no such record; my mom swore that he was from there because her grandfather said he was: oops, wrong information. My grandfather was RAISED there. Back to trying to find his birth location. . . . I tried the next logical place, Buffalo; BINGO: there it was and coming in the mail!!!!

After receiving the birth registry, I showed my mom and went online looking for sites that assisted in researching Irish roots. I went to a site, posted my findings, asking for assistance: They told me that I would have to wait for the administrator to return as she was at PRONI getting records for other people.

When she returned, the people on that site told me she had returned but give her a few days to respond; I waited.

The admin responded that she would be going back to PRONI that week and will look for my Rose Kinney, born about 1880 from unknown place in Ireland; on my grandfather's birth certificate, all it said was Rosanne Kinney, 1880, Ireland.

On her return, she told me she had found a Rose Kinney, but born 1873. On one census record, it said she was born about 1875, so that had to be her. They sent me the record and I asked them if there were any Kinney members in the area where they lived (the admin and such -- they responded no but they would ask a friend who knows a lot of people).

The admin's friend asked around and a week later, he got this response..."I asked a few people and I was told a friend of a friend knows a friend whose mother was a Kinney." WOWOW!!!

So they asked him if they could ask their friend's friends if they know anything about a Rose Kinney that migrated to America and married a Charles Bowers.

This person told the friend to tell the admin that they did have a Rose that left Ireland and married a Charles Bowers, as they had met their grandfather's sisters g-grandchildren years ago (over 20) and their g-gma passed the story to the sister's granddaughter, who had the information here in the U.S.A. . . . Whew!!!!!

The son of a Kinney mother told them to give me their information in Ireland to call them, and a week later, I received the number.

Connection was established and proved!!!!!!!

I went to Ireland with my mother, and mom cried because she was so happy her father was right!!!

ERIN GO BRAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!