William McCulloch

Hi,

Thanks for your message and interest in Ireland Reaching Out.

Have you tried using Church records to find information? Unfortuantely, the reality of finding documentation pertaining to births/baptisms/marriages/deaths in Ireland prior to 1800 ? particularly in rural areas ? is that they simply may not exist. Consequently, it may be difficult for you to find records for William's parents, but perhaps if your lucky you may find records on any siblings he may have had, or on his own children.

Most Catholic records are held locally - One site which might be of use is - http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/ - where you can ?browse? an overview of available records per county. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for possible assistance.

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

You could also look for some record of the family in the land records pertaining to 19th century Ireland. There are two: The Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1838) and Griffith's Land Valuation (1848-1864) You can search these at the following websites:

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp and http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/  

Do you know much about William's emigration? Generally, more information was given at  the port of arrival rather than that of departure. If you knew the city he arrived at it may help you find information.

Another possible avenue may be to look through the 1901 census records...maybe you might be able to find some information on any family that remained in Ireland. You can do this here: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

Some other websites that may be useful to you in your research 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

The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

The National Archives Scotland- family history: http://www.nas.gov.uk/familyHistory/

Family Search:  https://familysearch.org/

I hope that this helps. 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