Ugh, Why Is This So Hard?

In a previous post, one of my goals was to focus on researching particular ancestors. Number 1 on that list is Patrick Synnott. I’ve been obsessed with this man since I first learned about him as a child. Originally my fascination was because he was born in 1792. To me, 200 years ago was an unimaginably long time ago. I still feel like it was a long time ago, but the way I think about 1792 is different today. It’s not just about how many years ago it was, but about what life was like back then compared to today and how much it has (or in some other ways hasn’t) changed.

No longer do I look at my ancestors’ date and locations of birth as simple biographical details. Instead, I use this information to craft possible narratives about who these men and women really were. Because of this, my interest in Patrick has only grown. He may be long dead and no one alive has a living memory of him, but the more I discover about his life, the more I feel like I’m learning who he might have been as a person, and that feels magical to me.

The only problem: hunting for Patrick is like searching for an invisible needle in a never-ending amorphous haystack where every time you DON’T find it, the needle stings you with disappointment. When I started this project I naively thought I’d be able to easily (and quickly) find Patrick’s parents, but over time no matter where I looked, very little was materializing. I decided to go back to square one: the Synnott family genealogy book.

“We have not, however, been able to trace the lineage of one Patrick Synnott, born in 1792 in the County of Wexford, Ireland, as to his forebears or his brothers and sisters. This Patrick Synnott either came to this country with his parents at the age of four, settling in South Carolina, as some of his descendants say, or he came to the United States as a grown man, being unhappy with the division of his father’s property in Ireland. Whichever way, he left quite a few progeny, and it is the record of this progeny that we have endeavored to collect.”¹

via GIPHY

“Well, okay. Noted. But I have the Internet!” I thought. “I bet I can break through this brick wall so much more than anyone else could back in 1960.”

via GIPHY

“It seems that England, with the help of Cromwell, had forgotten all of the good deeds of the Sinnott family and wanted only to lay waste to the land of Wexford and southern Ireland and to kill all of its most important inhabitants. All of the records and books that these men of learning had accumulated were burned by Cromwell and his soldiers. They left in their path nothing but desolation and the ground for an everlasting hate and distrust for England and all of its governing body. It has been impossible to trace the Synnott lineages because of this burning of the records.” [Italicized for emphasis]²

I’m sure Betty Chaney is chuckling (if not cackling) from her grave because I’ve barely made any progress at all from her original efforts. Internet or not; there's no way you can find much of substance if the original source material simply isn't there anymore. All I currently know is what I’ve always known: the very same page that captured my imagination as a child in the very beginning of my genealogy journey.

³

At first I felt unfairly targeted by the genealogy gods. “Why did MY family have to be in these records that got burned?” And then I did some more light research to learn that it’s not just the Synnotts, but pretty much every Irish family has this issue of not finding Irish family members beyond the 18th century. That said, there are resources I’ve not yet tried, so there is hope yet that Patrick’s presence will resurface somewhere in the annals of time. And I intend to find it!

What I’m really doing:

via GIPHY

What it will feel like when I find him:

via GIPHY

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END NOTES
1 Chaney, Betty M. "Synnott - County Wexford, Ireland." Synnott Genealogical Study, 1960, p. 3
2 Chaney, Betty M. "Synnott - County Wexford, Ireland." Synnott Genealogical Study, 1960, p. 2
3 Chaney, Betty M. "Patrick Synnott, Sr." Synnott Genealogical Study, 1960.