ancestry.com

 Someone recommended ancestry.com, and I tried it for the first time today.

Wow, some great stuff on there: US census records, draft cards, social security registration ... hoping to find US military service records. A lot of the stuff that is free on Irish heritage sites can be had in the US for $25/month.

The other good (and why it was recommended), is that connections for other people who are researching the same family tree. For example, on Saturday I spent 4 hours or so  researching the James McBride birth records in the Irish sites to find all of their nine children. Here, I put in his name and it found a matching record, with all of his children. In seconds, but for $25/month. Someone else had already done this research, and shared it.

I'm planning to reach out to see how they tie in. I also see some other familiar names on there, like Mary Ellen Rudy, with lots of pictures of her family.

What I don't know is what happens to the stuff once you stop paying the monthly fee!

So, that's the good and the bad.

  

For now, what I find there, I will post here. I can't imagine continuing to pay $25/month! Plus, then there's the other sites: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/, etc

One small thing to start: Henry O'Grady's WW2 draft registration card, signed Aug 18, 1941 (note his date of birth is wrong!):