Hi, I am researching Patrick Kelly family . I think he was born around 1803 in the County of Limerick. He joined the army 1824 and served in New South Wales, Australia, then went onto East Indies, and then to Afghanistan. The Kelly family here have the Medal 1842 (1842 I think) when her served in Afghanistan. He was discharged in 1845 at Chatham. In 1847 he came to New Zealand on board the ship RAMILLIES and arrived in Auckland, N.Z. With him were his wife Elizabeth nee Malone. Also passenger list reads 4 children but only 3 children mentioned in his WILL. Their last child Patrick Thomas Kelly was born in Onehunga, N.Z. 1849. The WILL i have names their children as William, Joseph ,Anne and Patrick.
I have been trying now for a number of years to find his parents, siblings, where his children were born and did his wife travel with him in the 40th Regiment and the children were born in some of the countries mentioned above. In the army Patrick Kelly started off a Private and ended up a Seargent . Patrick Kelly died 1858 Onehunga. New Zealand. He came to New Zealand as a Fencible/Pensioner.
Hopefully someone in Ireland is researching this family too. Hope to hear from someone with info . Awaiting patiently. Zelda Kelly
Wednesday 22nd May 2013, 05:24AM
Message Board Replies
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Hi Zelda,
Thank you very much for your message. I hope that someone who is researching the family makes a connection with you and helps you establish a more specific place of origin in Limerick for Patrick. Once you have this it will be easier to determine what records are relevant to you.
In the meantime there are a couple of places online where you may be able to find records. However it is imporatnt to note that it can sometimes be very difficult to get records that go back as early as 1803. The reality of finding documentation pertaining to births/baptisms/marriages/deaths in Ireland that early ? particularly in rural areas ? is that they simply may not exist.
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.
Have you tried looking into his service record to see if you can find more information on him and his family? The best place to try is probably the UK National Archives, here is their website:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/
As he was receiving a pension when he was in New Zealand you could try checking the Chelsea Pensioner?s Service Records. For more information follow this link:
Some other websites that 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
Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/#Limerick
Genealogy links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/limerick/index.html
Limerick Library: http://www.limerickcity.ie/Library/LocalStudies/
Genealogy Tool-kit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/index.html
Best wishes,
Genealogy Support
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Hello Zelda, I tried to contact you at an older email address (star.co.nz) may not have the info you are looking for but Paul and I did some research back in the '80s. You can reach me at moppety27@gmail.com