Michael Reynolds

Hi Bill,

Thank you for your message.

Have you tried looking in church records for information? Civil registration did not begin until 1864 in Ireland so for records of births/marriages prior to this you need to look in church 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. It also shows you where copies of the records are available. For parish, follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Clare&parish=Kilmanaheen&churchid=621

As you can see Clare Heritage Centre have copies available from 1823. If you would like to contact them here is their email, however a fee may apply: clareheritage@eircom.net

Civil registration began in Ireland in 1864 so any births, deaths or marriages in the family after this date would be recorded in these records. 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 up to 1958 online at:

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

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

Family Search: www.familysearch.org

Clare Library: http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/genealog.htm

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

I hope some of 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

Hi Emma,

Thanks for the info. I will search some of these sites.

Regards

Bill Hess

Hi Bill, after 8 years,  I have just found your post shown here.  I also posted about my Bridget Reynolds in Jan 2013, copied here.   My ancestors were Bridget REYNOLDS who was born about 1834 at Ennistymon, Clare. She was a potato famine orphan at age 16 and set sail for Australia aboard the "Thomas Arbuthnot" which arrived in Sydney 3rd Feb 1850. Father Magennis was in charge of the young girls onboard and they were taken south to the areas of Yass and in Bridget's case to the area of the Murrumbidgee River where she was assigned as a servant and later married John DOWNEY a shepherd/ labourer from Dublin born 1823.  Bridget and John settled in Wagga Wagga, NSW where they had 11 children including my great grandmother Mary Downey, born 1852 (she later married Joseph Marks).  Bridget died in 1915. I don't know anything more about where she lived in Ennistymon and under what sort of conditions. Her parents were supposedly Michael and Ann Reynolds - both deceased by 1849.

As my Bridget Reynolds parents were supposed to be Michael and Ann Reynolds, I was also looking at the 1855 Griffiths Valuation for the Michael Reynolds that you mentioned. They cannot be the same people but maybe from the same family ? There are some similarities. Did you get the answers to your questions?

Hi Bill and thewendys2010;

 I have just seen your post about Ennistymon and I may be able to help you both.  There is someone there who may have more local historical information about the family who I can contact.  I live in Tulla in East Clare, but I am part of several local history and heritage groups within the County.  

If you would like me to contact them, please let me know at:  Tulla@irelandxo.com.  

All the best,  

Jane