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Cork / Re: Caulfield and Leader families, Cork
« on: Thursday 01 September 11 01:53 BST (UK) »
Well, the standard advice to a beginner is to start with yourself and work backwards obtaining original documents wherever possible. In this case I recommend it because "Irish roots" is a bit vague. It doesn't say whether his mother or father was from Ireland. Start with Scottish records (relatively easy these days).
About the Leaders: There are English and German Leaders. The Germans aren't related and your Glasgow roots suggest English as the source. The name means military leader or officer. I would be surprised if all English Leaders are related. To the best of my knowledge there is only one family of Irish Leaders but I haven't done an exhaustive search. The Irish Leaders I know about were originally English. The family was founded by an English soldier and settled near the town of Millstreet in northwestern County Cork. They had a number of manor houses and were part of the Anglo-Irish Ascendency. Records for this family are good. You can find out quite a lot in the radleysofcork site mentioned by Lorraine above.
At least, the records are good if your family is Protestant. Most Leaders were. But, over time, some married Catholic girls (or had other relationships) and had Catholic descendants. Catholic records aren't as good but by the end of the 19th century records were being kept. I believe most Leaders in Cork now are Catholic. There was a diaspora of Protestant Leaders (and other Anglo-Irish Ascendancy families) around the time of the Irish Civil War.
About the Leaders: There are English and German Leaders. The Germans aren't related and your Glasgow roots suggest English as the source. The name means military leader or officer. I would be surprised if all English Leaders are related. To the best of my knowledge there is only one family of Irish Leaders but I haven't done an exhaustive search. The Irish Leaders I know about were originally English. The family was founded by an English soldier and settled near the town of Millstreet in northwestern County Cork. They had a number of manor houses and were part of the Anglo-Irish Ascendency. Records for this family are good. You can find out quite a lot in the radleysofcork site mentioned by Lorraine above.
At least, the records are good if your family is Protestant. Most Leaders were. But, over time, some married Catholic girls (or had other relationships) and had Catholic descendants. Catholic records aren't as good but by the end of the 19th century records were being kept. I believe most Leaders in Cork now are Catholic. There was a diaspora of Protestant Leaders (and other Anglo-Irish Ascendancy families) around the time of the Irish Civil War.