Seeking family connections

Hi Sherry,

Thank you for your message.

Have you tried looking in church records for information? As civil registration did not become mandatory until 1864, so for information on births, deaths, marriages prior to this it is necessary to look at parish records.

Most Catholic records are held locally so you may need to write to the local parish priest for possible assistance. One website that you may find useful is the Irish Times where they give an overview of what records are available in specific parishes. For Urney parish, follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Tyrone&parish=Urney&churchid=1029

Unfortunately, as you can see from this, records for the parish do not begin until 1856. However, in the19th century new Catholic parishes were created so starting dates can sometimes be misleading. Many parishes changed their geographical spread so you may find earlier records relating to your family in the records of adjoining parishes. Here is a link to a map of Tyrone showing the Catholic parishes there:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/counties/rcmaps/tyronerc.htm

Most surviving Church of Ireland records are still held by the local clergy, although some are in the National Archives of Ireland and others are in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. Here are their websites: http://www.nationalarchives.ie/ and http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42

Lists of these surviving registers can also be found at the National Library of Ireland.

www.familysearch.org have a some records availabe online.

For births, deaths or marriages in the family after 1864 there should be a civil record. . Civil records are available from the General Register?s Office in Dublin. Here is their website:

http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm

You can search the indexes to these records online at:

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347

You could also check for record of the family in the land acts pertaining to Ireland in the 19th century. There are two:

The Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1838) found at http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp

and Griffith?s Valuation (1848-1864) found at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

Some other websites that you may find useful are:

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/tyrone/index.html

I hope this is helpful. Please be patient - as our programme has only begun to rollout across the island of Ireland and volunteers in some areas may not yet be organized.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support