Robert Bennett & Hester Kingston

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your message and interest in Ireland Reaching Out.

Have you tried looking at Church records for information? Most Catholic records are held locally. One website which may be of help to you is the irishtimes website where you can see an overview of what records are available  in specific counties. You can check what is available in Clonakilty parish at the following link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Cork%20South-West&parish=Clonakilty&churchid=33

For Church of Ireland records you can check at http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/.

You can also check for some record of the family in the land records pertaining to Ireland in the 19th century. There are two: The Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1838) and  The Griffit's Valuation (1848-1864) You can browse through these at 

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp

and

 http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

Some other websites which may be helpful to you 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

and

Family Search: https://familysearch.org/  

I hope some of these links help. 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.

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