Looking for

Hi Rod,

Thank you for your message.

Unfortunately, it may be difficult for you to find family records prior to 1800. 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. Also, as the Church of Ireland was the official church at the time, most of what survives can be found in their registers. For information on the C of I records check these links:

http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/. 

Catholic records in Enniskillen do not start until c. 1838. If you would like to see what records are available in the parish follow this link to the Irish Times website:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Fermanagh&parish=Enniskillen&churchid=308

This website is also very useful for people researching their family history in general. You can find what information is available in specific parishes, it gives maps of counties and their civil and Roman Catholic divisions, and it has a surname search engine for the mid-19th century. Here is a link to the homepage:

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

You could also search for the family in the Tithe Applotment Books. This is a land survey that was compiled between 1823 and 1837 in order to determine the amount which occupiers of agricultural holdings should pay in tithes to the Church of Ireland. You can search it online here:

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

There is also a later land records called Griffith?s Valuation (1848-1864) that you can search online also:

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

Another good website is  https://familysearch.org/ This is a huge database of genealogical records that has been complied by the Church of the Latter Day Saints.

Some other websites which 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

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

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

I hope that this is helpful and that some of these links help you uncover some new information.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support