Sarah KELLY with a father named MICHAEL

Hello Daisynook,

I went to www.rootsireland.ie and found 5 baptismal records in Co. Laois for a Sarah Kelly whose father was Michael.  The years are 1834,1857,1864, 1868, 1869.

There are many more records (80in total) for a Sarah Kelly around the rest of Ireland.  Are you positive that she was from Co. Laois?  Try looking at the counties that border Co. Laois, as civil and parish boundaries are totally different.

Hope this helps somewhat,

Regards,

Anne Dennehy

Hello Daisynook,

I forgot to say that the civil registration only began in Ireland in 1864, so her birth certificate will not be available.  You will have to search church records for her baptismal record.

anne

Hello Anne

Thanks very much for your help.  This sounds hopeful.  I know some of the birth dates are inaccurate but the information I have on Sarah is from her marriage certificate.  It states her dob as 1853 in Queens Co although I have found it marked as 1852 in other places.  This is also where I found the information on her father.   I have found the 5 records you pointed out.  I'm sure they were Catholics so can rule out the Civil Birth.

Marie

Marie,

In case I misunderstood your last post, the civil registration which began in 1864 was for people of ALL denominations.  The civil "parish"  actually encompasses many church parishes, so always look at records in the surrounding locality.  As you say 1869 is quite late if she was married in 1873, so I would be looking at much earlier dates.

Most people who emigrated were illiterate and undocumented.  They didn't know how to spell their names and hadn't a clue as to what age they were.  At the port of arrival their names were recorded phonetically, their ages were only guessed, and this is the information that followed them for the rest of their lives.

The proof of this occured in 1909 when the old age pension was introduced into ireland.  People had to prove their ages and were forced to go through baptismal records to establish when they were born.  That is why there is such HUGE discrepancies between ages in the 1901 census and the 1911 census of Ireland.  Dates were found to be out by as much as twenty years in some cases.

Hope this is of some help to you,

anne

Hello Anne

Thanks for the further information.  You are right my great-grandmother was illiterate, her mark X was on her marriage certificate and I haven't been able to trace when she came to England.

Marie

Here I am still trying to pin down this Kelly family.  I have come across a record for the birth of a son Kelly on 28 Jun 1869 at 657 Mountmelick, Queens, with a mother Sarah Kelly.  Could this be a brother to my great-grandmother Sarah?  Any help appreciated.