Help please - trying to find person from Galway

samhuzz

Hello

I've already posted this on the other Galway board, but I'm trying to find an old family friend who comes from Galway. His name is Patrick Joseph Burke and he would now be in his sixties/seventies. He was in Leicestershire in the 1960s. I have been told he was the owner of a garage/garages.

Could anyone help please

Thanks

Sam

Madame Razz

JJ Burke is a Peugeot dealership in Ballinrobe Co.Mayo if that's any use???

biko

I know a lot of Burkes, will ask around.

samhuzz

Thanks very much, I wrote to the Galway Advertiser and they put it in the paper but still not heard anything.

dec25532

The Galway Advertiser won't be much use to you if PJ Burke is from the county. Try the Tuam Herald and Connacht Tribune.

samhuzz

Thanks Dec I'll try those then. I live in Leicestershire, England and don't know Ireland at all so I'm finding it a bit difficult to get any info.

Thanks

Sam

Burke is a very common name.

http://www.eircomphonebook.ie/search/residential/Galway/PJ_Burke.html

The eircom phone book suggests there are 2 PJ Burkes, 14 Patrick Burkes, and 1,596 Patrick Joesph Burkes.

_Whimsical_

Deleted User wrote: »

Burke is a very common name.

http://www.eircomphonebook.ie/search/residential/Galway/PJ_Burke.html

The eircom phone book suggests there are 2 PJ Burkes, 14 Patrick Burkes, and 1,596 Patrick Joesph Burkes.

It only suggests there are 1596 Patrick Joseph Burkes in Galway because it cannot match the exact term so it gives you every single listing for Burke in the book there.That just means it has no one listed under the exact name Patrick Joseph Burke.

There are between 30 - 40 listings that might be of use to you in the phone book though. You could try all the Patricks, P's, PJ's, Paddys and Padraics. Padraic is the Irish name for Patrick.If you knew this man from the UK there's always a small chance he might go by the name Padraic at home.

Page 25 - 28 of the phone might be relevant to you. This is page 25: http://www.eircomphonebook.ie/search/residential/Galway/Patrick-_Joseph-_Burke-25.html
At the bottom of that page you can press "next" and get onto page 26 etc.

Oh and... good luck

samhuzz

Thanks everyone for replying. You've all been so helpful. I'll now tell you the full story!

Patrick/Padraic is actually my grandfather but he doesn't know I exist! He was dating a woman called Patricia Pollard in Leicestershire in the 1960's and they had a daughter. Patrick called her Teresa (which I have been told is an Irish name). He wanted to marry Pat and take her back to Galway with him, but Pat's dad wouldn't let him.

That's why it's important to me to find him, but it seems as hard as trying to find a John Smith in England! I didn't tell the whole story before as I don't know what the Irish opinion of having children outside marriage was.

Thanks very much, not sure if this makes much difference though, but hopefully explains why I'm keen to find him.

Sam

Nowadays it isn't that big of a deal - back in the 60s it would have been scandalous.

Be prepared that him/his family might not want to have anything to do with you.

_Whimsical_

Hi Sam, good luck with finding your him.There's an adoption forum on boards.ie that may be of some use to you as they might have more experience of how to trace people in Ireland than the general boards population.The forum is here :http://m.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=879

Another thought would be that if you had a date of birth for him you might be able to check the electoral register for him.

PG666 is right.Having a child outside marriage isn't such a big deal here anymore.However on the whole older Irish people are still very private by nature and don't like people knowing too much of their business. For that reason it might be better to edit your above post and take out the part about your relationship to Patrick. I think it's very generous of you to share it with us but it might not best serve your own ends. If you want a relationship with this man it would probably be better if you approached him and explained the situation yourself rather than one if his friends or neighbours getting to him first.

Proxy

I know it might be a bit of a tangent but Ray D'arcy on Today FM has a history of tracking people down like this. He found the father of an Australian woman's child from a one-night two years ago. Worth an email.

samhuzz

Thanks very much all for your kind replies. I know that he might not want to know anything about me or my family but I guess it's worth a try. I don't want to upset him or his family though. I will try both of your suggestions though.

Thanks very much

Kind regards

Sam