Researching the O'Dea family

Michelle,

What denomination were this family?

Elwyn

Hi Elwyn,

Margaret was Catholic.

Many thanks, Michelle

Margaret?s birth was before the start of statutory birth registration in Ireland, so you won?t find a birth certificate for her. You might find her baptism.

In the 1840s and earlier, the two main RC churches in Belfast were St Mary?s (opened 1784) and St Patricks (1798). Unfortunately St Mary?s has no records for the period 1784 to 1867. If they ever existed, they have been lost. St Pat?s does however have records from 1798 onwards but as far as I can tell, they are not on-line anywhere yet. There is a copy in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast but a personal visit is required to view them. So if you are unable to go there yourself, you may need to employ a researcher.

http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/ecatalogue.htm

Alternatively, the National Library in Dublin is putting copies of all the RC parish records they hold on line in July. If you don't mind waiting till then, you can search the records yourself that way.

In the late 1700s, the Roman Catholic population of Belfast was very small, perhaps around 300 people in 1770 (St Mary?s was the first RC church in the city).  The industrial revolution then started to create huge numbers of new jobs in factories and mills and people poured in from all across Ulster. So though Margaret was evidently born in Belfast and possibly her parents were too, earlier than that the respective families probably came from rural areas.

I?d keep an open mind on Margaret?s mother?s forename. Marion was not a very common name in the early 1800s, especially amongst catholic families in Ireland where normally a saint?s name was mandatory. (I have never heard of any St Marion). She might have been named or known as Marion, I can?t say for certain, but her baptismal name might be Mary. I look at a lot of early RC baptism records and I don?t recall ever seeing a Marion. The name was more common by 1900 but not in the early 1800s.

When searching the records, bear in mind that the O? prefix is detachable in Ireland and often the families were just listed and known by the main name itself ie as Dea in this case. So search for that too.