Coleman, John and Keenan, Winifred

Hi Mary,

Do you know much about John's emigration? Dates, the reason why he left, etc.? Generally more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at (e.g. Liverpool, Castle Garden etc...), this could be a good place to find more information, and perhaps even find out an exact place of origin. A few sites which may help are: http://www.castlegarden.org/            http://www.ellisisland.org/    http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/default.htm and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

You could try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) or the later Griffith's Valuation (1848-64). The Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38): Microfilm copies of the books for all of Ireland are available at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/tithe-applotment-books-and-the-primary-griffith-valuation/ or the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS). Griffith's is freely available here: www.askaboutireland.com or here: www.failteromhat.com Failte Romhat has lots of other useful links you could try looking at. 

Valuations office in Dublin (http://www.valoff.ie) will have a record of the land registry from 1855 to modern times. Civil registration records are available from the General Register Office (GRO). These start from 1864. You can access the website here: http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm . 

Church records may be of use to you. Church of Ireland parish registers for the period up to 1870 are public records. Registers are available for about one third of the parishes, however many were destroyed in the Public Records Office in Dublin in 1922. Most 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. A list of all surviving registers is available in the National Archives. http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/.  Presbyterian registers are held in three main locations: in local custody, in the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI) http://www.proni.gov.uk/ and at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Belfast. PRONI has microfilm copies of almost all registers in Northern Ireland and also lists of records held by the Presbyterian Historical Society. For the rest of Ireland, almost all records are in local custody. It can difficult to locate these as many congregations in the South have moved, amalgamated, or simply disappeared over the last sixty years. 

You can check for information about the frequency of the name in the mid-19th century and any other variant spellings of the name here: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/ .

I wish you the best of luck with your search.

Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support

Ireland Reaching Out