O'BRIEN family 1857

Hi Brian,

Thank you for your message. Do you have any more information that you can share?

It will be difficult to find more information without a more specific place of origin preferably a parish as most Irish record sources- church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations.

There are some places where you can search online, however it may be difficult to discern whether the results are relevant to your family or not without more information:

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.

Have you tried looking for Andrew?s service record? you may find more information on place of birth in this. Check the UK National Archives for more information:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

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

Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/index.htm

Waterford Library: http://www.waterfordcity.ie/library/localstudies/

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

From Ireland: http://www.from-ireland.net/county-waterford-genealogy/

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.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support a

Thanks Emma for your reply and advice. Unfortunately I do not have any other details about Patrick O'Brien or Bridget Kent. I realise there must be many O'Brien families with these popular names, but I thought I should at least make a start. I have successfully found a lot of details on my Jones family links in Wales, so nothing is impossible :-)

At this stage I don't even know how many siblings Andrew Patrick had before he arrived in New Zealand and in fact although he said he was a passenger on the ss HERMIONE (Same ship as my Jones GGrandmother) I have checked the passenger list and he doesn't appear as a passenger. Family oral history said he jumped ship. Andrew joined the Armed Contabulary briefly as a groom, so he may have had some farming experience while in Ireland. On one official paper he is listed a a Catholic, but then he seems to have become a Methodist overnight (probably so he could marry in the Methodist Church in Hawera NZ)

I will pursue the links you have provided  and thnaks agine for your help.

Brian O'Brien

Waipu