Looking for Background Information on Irish Immigrants to Australia in 1863

Hi Steve,

Thank you for your message.

If the couple were married in St. Michael?s it is likely that was Johanna?s local parish church as generally weddings took place in the bride?s church. You could try looking in these records for her birth/baptismal certificate. 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. It also shows you where copies of the records are available. For St. Michael?s parish, follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showlikerecords&CityCounty=Limerick%20city&parish=Limerick

As you can see Limerick Genealogy have copies available. If you would like to contact them here is their email, however a fee may apply: research@limerickgenealogy.com

Have you already tried www.familysearch.org ? There are some records available there.

Have you tried looking up Patrick?s RIC record?  Excellent personnel records were kept from 1816. These can be found at the UK National Archives here:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/royal-irish-constabulary.htm

There are microfilm copies at the National Archives of Ireland, The Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) and the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI). For each recruit it includes a brief service record, date of marriage and wife's native county, and the name of the individual who recommended him. This is important to identify an exact place of origin, because the recommendations usually came from local clergymen or magistrates who knew the recruit personally.

There is a book by Jim Herlihy called, The Royal Irish Constabulary: a complete alphabetical list of officers and men, 1816-1922, 1999. This supplies the Service Number needed to use the Registers quickly and easily.

You could also check for record of the family in the land records 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/

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

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

Ireland Genealogy Projects: http://www.countylimerickgenealogy.com/

Limerick Library: http://www.limerickcity.ie/Library/LocalStudies/

Limerick City Archives: http://www.limerickcity.ie/Archives/

I hope some of this is helpful and gets you started on your research.

All the best,

Genealogy Support

Emma,

Thank you for the input ... a lot of possibilities there .... currently trying a couple of different routes ....

Regards,

Steve.