Fanny Owen & Henry Williamson

Hi Pamela,

Thank you for your message.

Have you tried looking in Church records for information on Fanny and Henry? Most Catholic records are held locally. One website which you may find helpful is the Irish Times where they give an overview of what records are available in specific parishes. For Enniscorthy follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Wexford&parish=Enniscorthy&churchid=593

For Church of Ireland records check http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/. 

Some Church records for the period are available at www.familysearch.org

You may also be able to find their marriage certificate in Civil Registration records as Civil Registration became mandatory in Ireland in 1864. Here is a link to 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 try searching for the Owens/Williamsons in Griffith?s Valuation. This is a property valuation survey that was carried out in Ireland 1848-1864. It will be easier to find the families once you have their parents? names. You can search these here:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

Have you checked the immigration records in Australia? Generally, more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. The University of Woolongong has produced, on microfiche, a complete index and transcript of all information concerning immigrants of Irish origin recorded on ships' passenger lists between 1848 and 1867 for New South Wales. These are useful for finding out an exact place of origin as well as parents' names.

Have you also tried checking the 1901/1911 census records for any family that may have remained in Ireland? You can do so here:

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

Some other websites which 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/wexford/index.html

Wexford Library: http://www.wexford.ie/wex/Departments/Library/YourServices/LocalStudies/

I hope this is helpful. Remember to post as much information as you can with regard to the people you are researching. The more information you post, the more likely it is that one of our volunteers will be able to advise or assist you. Also include information concerning which sources you may have already used so others may further your search.

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