Hi Donna,
Hopefully someone living in the local community will know of the Foley family in Kerry.
In the meantime, if you would like some suggestions for researching your family tree, please try checking the following sources:
There are Roman Catholic church records available for the diocese of Kilgarvan. These date from 1818 for baptismal and marriage records. You can find these at the National Library of Ireland, Pos. 4290. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for more assistance.
Civil registration records are available from the General Register Office (GRO). These start from 1864 however. You can access the website here: http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm
How do you know about the Slaghts connection?
You could also try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) or the later Griffith's Valuation (1848-64). Griffith's is freely available here: www.askaboutireland.com or here: www.failteromhat.com Failte Romhat has lots of other useful links you could try looking at. Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38). Microfilm copies of the books for all of Ireland are available at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/tithe-applotment-books-and-the-primary-griffith-valuation/ or the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS).
You might find this link about the frequency of the name Foley in the mid-19th century, and the possible variants of the name, of interest: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&UserID=
Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.
Kind regards,
Sinead Cooney
Genealogist (Ireland XO)