Irish Frustration

Kay Adamson

WPBA

Those of us with Irish Ancestry all have the same problem. If you know what religion it helps. If you know a location it helps. Catholic records are much more available than protestant records as many protestant records were destroyed.

Although Michael left in 1836 the Griffith Valuation was conducted in Kilkenny in 1849 so his parents could still be alive see http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

There is an MORRISSEY EDMOND KILKENNY KILMACAR for example.

Findmypast has the largest collection of Irish family history records (about 140 million) online. They also have the Griffith Valuation. In addition, a World subscription to Findmypast.com site, or an Ireland subscription via Findmypast.ie, includes a growing number of Irish newspaper titles (more than 70 at last count) dating back to the 1700s.

Also in https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/

Under the first phase of the project, church records for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kerry were made available as were a subset of the Church of Ireland parishes in Kerry. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Kerry includes parishes in western and north-western areas of County Cork  The church records for a subset of the Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland parishes in Dublin City were also available as were a small number of Presbyterian records relating to a congregation in Lucan.

Hope this helps.

A van Helsdingen

You can see which Catholic records for Muckalee are available online here: https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0997 Indexes of these records are available at FindMyPast and Ancestry.com

If you believe he was Protestant (the minority religion, but more common in areas closer to Dublin like Co. Kilkenny), then I suggest having at look at the FamilySearch Wiki for advice. About 2/3 of Anglican records were destroyed in 1922 and other Protestant records are still in local ownership and hard to access.

In general, Catholic records in Ireland start in 1828 in rural areas and slightly earlier in urban and eastern areas. This was because prosecution of non-Anglicans before that date made it too dangerous to create written records in case they were captured by the authorities and used as evidence against them. So you are luckier than most to have records back to 1801 in Muckalee. Even if you can't find Michael's baptism, you might find younger siblings.

There's a slight chance that there are additional records for Muckalee from before 1801. The only way to find out is to contact the parish. If you are a Latter Day Saint or belong to another religion that practices baptism for the dead then you should not disclose that fact as the Catholic Church in Ireland is extremely sensitive about this issue and does not authorize their records being used to facilitate this.