Clare Past Forum

Are there any marriages and births available for the Clare area in the early 1800s?

Your inquiry is such a broad one that I assume you are beginning your journey into Irish family research. There are several excellent, comprehensive sources to consult on births and marriages. Some are in the form of books by eminent Irish genealogists and available in the collections of libraries around the world. Those are shown below. You may wish to read more generalized discussions on your topics of interest, which can be accessed online. Here is the link to a Wiki provided by the Mormon website, where you can reach Irish marriage and birth information by typing "Ireland" in the search engine space and then clicking on the search icon (right side) so that a drop-down menu appears with those topics, from which you choose and then arrive at the individual research guidance pages.
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Main_Page

John Grenham, one of the authors noted below, has provided research guidance on the Irish Times website which you can access:
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/sitemap.htm

Hope that gets you off in the right direction,
Sharon Carberry


Irish records: sources for family and local history
James G. Ryan ISBN 0916489760

Tracing your Irish ancestors: the complete guide
John Grenham ISBN 0806313692

Discovering Your Irish Ancestors
Dwight A. Radford & Kyle A. Betit

Sorry I didn't give you enough information, but thanks for your suggestions.

I am not new to genealogy, but I live in Australia, and just not familiar with Irish genealogy.

Some of the birth areas I am looking for are at Drumcliff (1850-1855) and Ennis, and I have a conflicting birth in Tipperary 1832.

Also my daughter wrote twice to the Ennis Parish in May & June, and both her emails were ignored, so not sure where to go from there.

My ancestors were baptised in your church and I was hoping to find a record of a death. Is it possible for someone to look up the register, please? His name was Michael George Gleeson and according to The Clare Journal, he died of Cholera on 26 March 1849. I have not been able to find a record of his burial in the various online resourses available

The said Michael George Gleeson married Ann(e) Tierney somewhere around 1830 and their first child (that I know of) was Mary who was born in Tipperary about 1832 - later children were born 1840&42 in Ennis.

The Drumcliff (Ennis) Parish registers are online here: http://www.ennisparish.com/genealogy/.
Sadhbh

Irish genealogical records are quite scattered, but using the three sites mentioned by Sharon and Sadhbh, and perhaps also http://www.theirisharchives.com/ will give you an idea of what is available. For your Clare relatives the Clare Library site http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... nealog.htm is essential.

Catholic Church records pre 1850 are very hit and miss - that's why John Grenham (see Sharon's post) is essential, and there would be very few for the early 1800s. Gravestone inscriptions, if you know which area, can help to fill the gap. If you think your ancestors were in Ireland at least up to the 1860s then the Griffith's Valuation and Tithe Applotments (proto-censuses) could be of help to pin down the townland (both transcribed on the Clare Library site, Griffith's with original images on www.askaboutireland.ie and Tithes with original images on the National Archives site http://www.nationalarchives.ie/

Finally there is a huge amount of individual research on the web so googling your names could turn up something. Newspaper references often surface this way.

Good luck
Lucille

smcarberry wrote: I assume you are beginning your journey into Irish family research

I see my assumption is true. I have often heard the comment that success in Irish family history has little relation to similar endeavors for other nationalities. I personally know that finding answers often takes years rather than weeks. There is a steep learning curve and not everyone has that kind of time.

I suggest that you have two basic roads to take: (1) learn all that you can about Irish records in general, plus the intricacies of the specific areas that appear most likely inhabited by your ancestors, or (2) engage the services of a professional genealogist. While the latter route is quicker, I realize most people want to make discoveries themselves and don't have the budget for paid work. It is an era of greater accessibility overall, although contacting a parish church has become less productive now in view of how limited staffing is and how much time pastoral work absorbs, leaving no time for anyone to even read incoming emails.

In case you continue on your own, below are two links to online resources that may be helpful. Deaths were generally not recorded by RC parish priests in the early to mid 1800s. Burials during the mid to late 1840s were often done with only a field stone marking the location, with no inscription and often now displaced or otherwise lost to time.

http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... _ennis.htm

ennisparish.com/genealogy/

I wish you well on your journey.

SMC