Seeking help

Dear DeeDee

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out and apologies for the delay in replying to your message. 

As you can see from the link below, St. Mary?s is a Civil Parish in Co. Kilkenny:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/townlands/index.cfm?fuseaction=TownlandsInCivil&civilparishid=2796&civilparish=St.%20Marys&citycounty=Kilkenny

Church of Ireland records for St. Mary's & St. Patrick?s begin in 1732 while records for the corresponding Roman Catholic Parish of St. Mary?s begin in 1754 with some missing baptisms, notably between 1782 and 1784.

There are some places where you can search online, however these websites do not have complete collections and many do not cover the period after 1900:

www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.

www.rootsireland.ie have a large collection of Irish Church records, however you have to pay to use this site.

http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/ have begun a project to upload Irish church records to their site free of charge. However, so far only Counties Dublin, Kerry, Carlow and parts of Cork have been covered.

Other important sources include the Tithe Applotment Books and Griffith?s Valuation. Even though these sources only record the head of the household, the information is very important and can be valuable:

Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1837): http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/index.jsp

Griffith?s Valuation (1847-1864): http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

The National Archives of Ireland: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/  you can search the 1901/1911 Census on the National Archives page too, for instances of the family name at that time

Remember to post any new information that you find here. 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.

Best of luck with your search

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support  

DeeDee/Donna,

Do you know if your great-great-grandmother left any relatives in Kilkenny? The reason why I ask is that my great-great-grandfather was married in Kilkenny and one of the witnesses was a Michael Doyle. My great-great-grandfather was about 30 years old when he got married. Don't know if that would have any influnce on Michael Doyle's age.

Jeff Ford