Irish Genealogical Research
The very earliest Irish Catholics in Rockford and Belvidere would have been served by mission priests traveling from St. Patrick's in Hartland, IL. (early 1840s) This parish, unfortunately, burned to the ground in 1913. Although rebuilt, it is unknown what records still exist for those early years. - St. Patrick, 15012 St. Patrick Road, Woodstock, IL 60098; (815) 338-7883
Irish Catholics in Rockford could have attended several Churches. The earliest Churches were:
- 1853 - St. James Parish, 428 N. Second St., Rockford, IL 61107; (815) 962-1214
- 1885 - St. Mary Parish, 517 Elm Street, Rockford, IL 61102; (815) 968-0865 - First parish on Rockford's west side where many Irish families settled
- 1915 - St. William Mission, later St. Peter Cathedral Parish, 1243 N. Church, Rockford, IL 61103; (815) 965-2765
- 1919 - St. Patrick Parish, 2505 School Street, Rockford, IL 61101; (815) 965-9539 - Patron Saint's name was chosen by James O'Brien, son of Patrick O'Brien, one of the pioneer Catholics who traveled fourteen miles every Sunday to attend Mass in Rockford
- 1914 - St. Rita, 6254 Valley Knoll Drive, Rockford, IL 61109; (815) 398-0853 - Parish originally served Catholics in Cherry Valley area which has now become part of Rockford. This parish was originally a mission attended to by priests from Belvidere and later Rockford.
Early Irish Catholics in Pecatonica, Seward, Irish Grove, and Durand would have attended:
- 1872 - St. Mary, 126 W. Fifth Street, P.O. Box 656, Pecatonica, IL 61063; (815) 239-1271
- 1909 - St. Patrick Mission in Irish Grove (61024) which is currently attended from Durand; however, the parish has been served by priests from Galena, New Dublin, and Freeport since 1841
- 1862 - St. Mary, 606 W. Main St., Durand, IL 61024; (815) 248-2490 - Masses were said in private homes of the early settlers since 1836 by priests from Galena and Chicago
Note: Other early Catholic Parishes in Rockford included: St. Anthony - 1909 (predominantly Italian congregation); SS. Peter and Paul - 1908 (predominantly Lithuanian congregation); St. Stanislaus Kostka - 1912 (predominantly Polish congregation)
| Northwestern University Library |
Special Collections Department
Level 3
Deering Building
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL
(708) 491-3635
Irish-American Falley Collection - Donated in 1980
Over 3,000 volumes published both in the US and the British Isles - collected by author of Irish and Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research, Margaret Dickson FALLEY
- 1,600 American reference books
- 1,200 Irish reference books
- 200 volumes for other parts of the UK
- 170 microfilm reels of parish records, deeds, and emigration passenger lists from Irish sources
American Sources
- Irish-American family histories (over 100 histories)
- State and Local histories (over 450 volumes) - info on wills, marriages, census records, vital stats
- New England States particularly Massachusetts
- the Midwest
- a few southern states
- General reference books
- Census information inventories
- Guides by organizations such as DAR, the Mormons, the Quakers, Revolutionary War Pensions, National Archives
- General research procedure books
Irish Sources
- Atlases and gazetteers
- Army records
- Published census statistics
- The Civil Survey a.d. 1654-1656
- Fifty indexes to:
- marriage records
- baptisms
- school and chancery rolls
- deeds
- tombstone inscriptions and memorials
- wills
- calendars of state papers
- Reports of Ireland's Public Record Office (60 volumes)
- Ecclesiastical records - Catholic and Protestant (Methodist, Presbyterian and Quaker)
- Histories of cities and counties of Ireland - special attention paid to Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Londonderry and Ulster
- Irish and Scotch-Irish family histories nearly 100 works - names, origins, and coats-of-arms
- Emigration histories - Irish settlements in North America in 17th, 18th and 19th centuries
- General Irish history and folklore
- Microfilm reels of Irish parish records, deeds and ship's passenger lists- housed in NWU Library's Newspaper⁄Microtext Department
Computerized On-line Card Catalog lists approximately 50 percent of material available in the collection - For guide on how to access catalog on-line call⁄write the Reference Department
The Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton, Chicago, IL, and the Allen County Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, both have excellent collections on Irish genealogy. Both facilities have collections of Griffith's Valuation, an Irish census substitute.
The Newberry has handouts on Irish genealogical research both at the library and on-line.
The Chicago Historical Society has an Irish newspaper titled the Citizen with incomplete holding from 1883 to 1914, and a Scottish paper, the Scottish American Journal with complete holding from 1861 to 1865.
The Illinois State Historical Library in Springfield also has copies of the Citizen and another newspaper called the Orkney and Shetland American which featured news of the immigrants from these islands off the coast of England.
The Conrad Sulzer Library, 4455 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625, has Irish-American selections in the historical collection.(Historical collection entrance is located at Leavitt Street (2200 West) and Montrose Avenue (4400 North).
Irish Genealogical Links
Irish Genealogy Guide from the Newberry Library
I rish Genealogy Link
Irish Genealogical Society, Int'l
Cyndi's List of Irish Genealogy Links
