Neeley family

Hi Johnny,

Thank you for your message.

Civil registration only began in Ireland in 1864, so in order to go back further than Alexander and Jane?s birth you will have to look in church records. If you can find their birth records it will give you their parents? names. It may also be an idea to look for their marriage record also as sometimes fathers? names were given on these.

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 Limavady/Drumachose  parish, follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Derry&parish=Limavady&churchid=363

Unfortunately, as you can see from this link records there only start from about 1855. However, as new parishes were created during the 19th century it is sometimes advisable to look in records of neighbouring parishes for earlier start dates. Here is a link to a map showing the Catholic parishes in Derry, simply click on the parish to see what is available there:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Derry&parish=Limavady&churchid=363

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.

There are also some sites that have some church records available online:

www.familysearch.org has a huge collection of genealogical records including some births from Ireland.

www.rootsireland.ie has a vast collection of Irish Church records available, however, you have to pay to use this site.

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/

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

Irish Genealogy Toolkit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/

I hope that some of these links are helpful to you. You could also try contacting Derry Genealogy Centre for some assistance, however a fee may apply. genealogy@derrycity.gov.uk

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

Hello Emma,

Thank you so much for this information.  You've given me a quite a bit to keep my occupied for some time.

Best wishes

John