Help with potentially orphaned ancestor
My GG-grandfather was born in 1853/54 in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. This is the only information we have about his history before he came to the US. There was always a family story that he was orphaned/adopted, and during my research I discovered his death certificate which listed his place of birth but that his parents were unknown.
Given that I have his name, an approximate DOB and approximate location or birth, I am hoping for help continuing my search. His name is common, James Burns, and the potential also exists that this is not the original spelling( although this has not been confirmed).
Are there specific resources I can use even though I don't have any information on his parents? I feel stuck without more details.
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@Sarah Burns A place to start is to go to the Catalog which is under the Search menu at the top of the screen. Put in the location and it will give you a list of all the sources that are available in FamilySearch.
This link will get you started.
Another resource I find helpful is Artificial Intelligence tools like ChatGPT. The free version is pretty powerful. Entering a prompt like "Tell me what resources there are for adoptions in County Armagh, Northern Ireland?"
I hope this is helpful.
David
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https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/586200#Comment_586200
Thank you, David! I will give this all a try. I haven't used some of the AI tools yet, so that is a great new resource I hadn't considered.
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@Sarah Burns I have found that the AI tools are helpful in finding resources but not necessarily actual records. That may just be because I am a neophyte when it comes to AI. But there are lots of webinars on the subject. I am pretty sure that RootsTech will have a lot of presentations on AI this year.
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