Unfortunately, all my older relatives were dead before I started to take an interest in the genealogy, so I have not been able to get a kickstart on the family history.
I visited Donegal on business in 2003 for 2 days and I didn't find anything useful. I returned in 2006 to do some more leisurely poking around - I don't think I could justifiably describe it as "research".
As mentioned elsewhere on this site, this is where most of the family originate from. There are still a (very) few McGroartys living there, but I was shy to try and speak directly to anyone. I found several cemeteries where the name is common - perhaps they're all either dead or emigrated!
Initially I gathered up details on about 100 McGroartys from personal recollection and by a first trawl of the Web. However, the thing then gathered momentum and I found more from Birth and Marriage records for the Catholic Parish of Inver which are on microfilm in the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland. .
One way or another, I have now managed to compile data on over 1650 individuals dating back as far as one called Neil b.1746, as shown on the following two lists.
The first list, which I have called "Family Trees", has the entries listed according to a hierarchical system.
The second list is in alphabetical order of forename, with a reference for each entry pointing back to the Family pages.
I feel that there must be some crossovers and duplication, but I haven't figured them out yet. Give me another 20 years ........
Because of the limitations of my website software (and my own lack of ability), I have had to compromise a bit on the method of presentation, but I hope it makes some sense.
If anyone is interested, I have some additional information on many of the individuals, such as exact dates of birth etc., but I have been obliged to omit these here due to lack of space.
N.B. Many of the birthdates are guesstimates based on dates of marriage or on the birthdates of children, where these are known. There could be considerable inaccuracies. Also, it is generally believed that many people gave incorrect information, either intentionally or by mistake, on official records such as censuses etc., so even these cannot be taken as gospel truth without additional verification. Some of the data comes from the website and database of the LDS ("Mormons") and I have reservations about it because it seems as though some of the people making entries are not as thorough about checking the facts as they might be - I have found many contradictions.