looking for family

Hi Stella

Thank you for your query.You have good information to start with however to be successful in your research you will have to find a place of origin in Ireland (county, parish/townland). Have you checked the immigration records in Australia? Generally, more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. The University of Woolongong has produced, on microfiche, a complete index and transcript of all information concerning immigrants of Irish origin recorded on ships' passenger lists between 1848 and 1867. These are useful for finding out an exact place of origin as well as parents' names. The Public Record Office of Victoria has good online databases of settlers at www.prov.vic.gov.au Otherwise, other records may be found in the Colonial Office Papers of the UK National Archives, class reference CO 201. This class contains a wide variety of records, including petitions for assisted passages, emigrants' lists, records of emigrants on board ship, petitions from settlers for financial assistance and much more. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

Because there are so many parishes in the country (c.2,500), knowing the relevant parish makes a big difference when searching for records. Knowing the townland or town and then finding the civil parish is the first step.

Here are some other webites that may provide further guidence:

http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introductio…

http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/

http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/

Stella I hope that this information is of assistance to you. Do not hesitate to contact us again.

Kind regards,                    

Genealogy Support