Looking for McCarthy Relatives

Dear Julie

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out and apologies for the delay in replying to your message. 

As you can see from the link below, Abbeyleix is a Civil Parish in Kilkenny:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/townlands/index.cfm?fuseaction=TownlandsInCivil&civilparishid=1296&civilparish=Abbeyleix&citycounty=Kilkenny

Records for the corresponding Roman Catholic Parish of Ballyragget begin in 1801. 

There are some places where you can search online for children of John and Ellen as well as potential siblings of John. However these websites do not have complete collections and many do not cover the period after 1900:

www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.

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

http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/ have begun a project to upload Irish church records to their site free of charge. However, so far only Counties Dublin, Kerry, Carlow and parts of Cork have been covered.

Other important sources include the Tithe Applotment Books and Griffith?s Valuation. Even though these sources only record the head of the household, the information is very important and can be valuable:

Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1837): http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/index.jsp

Griffith?s Valuation (1847-1864): http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

The National Archives of Ireland: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/  you can search the 1901/1911 Census on the National Archives page too, for instances of the family name at that time

Remember to post any new information that you find here. 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.

Best of luck with your search

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support