William Butler & Mary Sullivan

Hi Matthew,

Thank you very much for your message.

As civil registration only became mandatory in Ireland in 1864, for birth and marriage records you will have to look at local parish records.

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. The civil parish of Clonfert belongs to Rock and Meelin Catholic parish.To see what is available ther follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Cork%20North-West&parish=Rock-and-Meelin&churchid=92

Unfortunately, as you can see from the above link records for the parish do not begin until 1866. However, in the19th century new Catholic parishes were created so starting dates can sometimes be misleading. Many parishes changed their geographical spread so you may find earlier records relating to your family in the records of adjoining parishes:

However, in the19th century new Catholic parishes were created so starting dates can sometimes be misleading. Many parishes changed their geographical spread so you may find earlier records relating to your family in the records of adjoining parishes

Most surviving Church of Ireland records 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. Here are their websites: http://www.nationalarchives.ie/ and http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42

Lists of these surviving registers can also be found at the National Library of Ireland.

It may be an idea to contact the Mallow Heritage Centre to see if they can be of assistance,  however a fee may apply. Here is their email: mallowheritagecentre@gmail.com

Please be patient - as our programme has only begun to rollout across the island of Ireland and volunteers in some areas may not yet be organized.

Kind regards,    

Genealogy Support

If your William Butler and Mary Sullivan/O'Sullivan married in Kanturk, you may want to check the records of the RC Church of the Immaculate Conception, Church Street, Kanturk. The records from this church date from c 1822 for baptisms and c 1824 for marriages.  As of August 2012, the priest of record was Cannon Jackie Corkery.  I sent him an e-mail then at jackiecorkery@eircom.net, but he has not as yet responded.  Perhaps a letter would elicit a reply or there may be someone in the parish who does look-ups.

Alternatively, there is another RC Church of the Immaculate Conception in Newmarket, Cork which could also hold records for your Butler-Sullivans.

Also, Roots Ireland has many William Butlers listed in both Kildare and Cork, although I could not find a William Butler, son of William Butler and Mary Sullivan listed.  http://ihfh.rootsireland.ie.

Hope this helps.

Carolyn