Searching for my great-grandmother's parents in Ireland. I know all about her from when she got mar
Her name was Sarah Kelly from Queens County. Problem with so many people with same name. She married William Mather in England. Any help appreciated.
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Sorry for delay in replying - life happens! To answer your question Stuart, yes I know from marriage certificate that Sarah's father's name and occupation was Michael Kelly, occupation Bricklayer. Another common name, there are so many Michael Kelly's!!
I have searched and searched for a Sarah Kelly with father Michael and there are hundreds of them. I even found somebody researching the same names as me who insisted my Sarah Kelly was the same as theirs but their family didn't live in the same place as mine.
Witnesses on the marriage certificate in Oct 1872 were not relatives, I checked them out and could find no connection other than possible work mates, friends. William and Sarah were witnesses at the wedding of William Foey and Dinah Wardle and visa versa I don't know exactly when she came to England but she married in June 1873.
Where would I find passenger ships records even though I don't know when she came?
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Hi Marie - not too sure how well you have been getting on with your search. The frustrations of Irish Genealogy are well known. We are all in the same boat - I cant find someone born in 1861 yet I know the area of birth within 10 miles. Very frustrating.
Without knowing where exactly Sarah was born do we know what religion she was?
That would rule in/out which parish records are needed as irishgenealogy.ie will not be of much use to you for her birth in that the civil registration of births only started in 1864. However she will likely be found on parish records, Church of Ireland or Catholic. I note she was married in a Church of England church in Manchester but that does not mean she was necessarily Protestant. If she was catholic then the irish catholic parish records should have her recorded.
If she was born about 1852 it is POSSIBLE that her parents marriage MAY be included on irishgenealogy.ie. (1845-1852). There are about 15 Michael Kellys married from 1845 (start of civil marriage registration) to 1852 and quite a few of those can be ruled out as they were in the wrong geographic area. Perhaps her parents were married prior to 1845 or not married at all.
A big question - is her father on the 1901 census for Queens County? - a check on the census pages shows 94 odd possibilities - but these can be heavily whittled down as you would need someone about 80 years of age at the time of the census. It would be hard to say for definite if he is but you never know. Always worth a look.
Is he on the death records on irishgenealogy? anything 1864 to pre 1901 ?
Naming patterns - are Sarah & William naming their children after their immediate family members. It looks like they might. That may identify grandparents.
It will all likely mean a protracted search - but I note there are about 16 Michael Kellys on the |Griffiths Valuation for Queens county. (circa1860). It may be possible to find him on this list. It only lists the head of the family though, not other family members. If he was a bricklayer then he wont be say a farmer of 100 acres! That person can be ruled out. He was likely living in a village/town and that should show up quite clearly.
Im sorry to not be of more help but I hope there are some ideas worth looking into listed above.
Keep searching.
Davis
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By 1872, it was well established in England that people could marry in the religion of their own choice. Pre-1837 only Anglican, Quaker and Jewish marriages were valid, and thus Catholics sometimes had an Anglican marriage (Two of my Irish Catholic ancestors in Manchester did this in 1825). To remove any doubt, have you found baptism records for her children? This is a good link for Lancashire parish records: https://www.lan-opc.org.uk/
If she was Anglican, that should make it a lot easier to eliminate possible candidates. Firstly, non-Catholic marriages were recorded from 1845, while Catholic marriages and all births/deaths were recorded from 1864. Secondly Protestants were a small minority (<15%) in Ireland outside of Northern Ireland and parts of Dublin.
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@Marie Lock
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Marie
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FYI
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"Queen's County" in the Province of "Leinster" in Ireland, is the FORMER name for (the now ) "County Laois" in the Province of "Leinster" in Ireland.
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WikiPedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Laois
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Have you tried:
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Irish Genealogy
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/
The 'Website' is maintained by the Government of Ireland.
Many of the 'Images' of the Documents are FREE to access.
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I hope this helps.
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Brett
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ps: I have recently been research Family there.
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Great resource @Brett ., thank you for sharing, and as always, your insight!
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Hi Amber - only just seen your post - the ID number I have for Sarah is
• K64P-4M2 - Thanks for your interest - Marie
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Hello if you have found her marriage, from the marriage certificate it will give her fathers name and occupation, with
that information you could search for her birth record as her age will be on the certificate. In addition the names of the witnesses to the marriage may inlude siblings. Have you looked on census records for the area where she was married to see when she moved from Ireland. Passenger ship records may help also. Did her parents move from IRELAND, are they listed.
Stuart Bailey
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Thank you everyone for the suggestions.
Sarah was a Catholic. It was quite usual for Catholics to be married in Manchester Cathedral in those days and these were recognised by the Established Church. Also, I think it became quite the fashionable thing to do in early Manchester. Sarah's father Michael was on the certificate.
So now back to searching!
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Well that rules out having to go through the Church of Ireland Parish Registers at least. Thats a start. Re Catholic Parish Registers they are on FamilySearch & ancestry & have been transcribed albeit that there MAY be errors in the transcription.
It is a fairly fast way to go through a collection but there is a risk of a mistake, or that the parents never had her baptised (which I think is unlikely). Links above and below just in case you haven't already gone through the list.
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