Colter/Coulter and Gallagher

Hi,

Thank you for your message.

Civil registration became mandatory in Ireland in 1864 so you should be able to find Katherine?s birth record in these records. You may also be able to find her parents? marriage record, or possibly sibling?s birth records here also, provided they occurred after 1864.

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

Prior to 1864, such records were kept by the local parish church so it may also be an idea to look there for information.

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 Ballymote parish, follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Sligo&parish=Ballymote&churchid=121

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.

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/

You could also try looking at the later 1901/1911 census records to see if there was any family still in the area at the time:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

Have you tried looking into her emigration for information? Sometimes more information was given at the port of arrival rather than that of departure so it may be an idea to look there. For information on immigration records in the US check the National Archives at http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/

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

Family Search: www.familysearch.org

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

I hope that some of these are 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