Looking for John Burke and Wife Mary Divine

Hi Norman,

Thank you for your message.

Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find information on Andrew as the it can be difficult to find records pertaining to births, marriages etc in the early 1800?s in Ireland. Civil registration did not begin officially until 1864, prior to this records were kept by local parish churches.In  Killashee, Catholic records did not begin until http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Longford&parish=Killashee&churchid=170

Was Andrew born before this? If not you may be able to find his birth record. Most Catholic records are held locally so you may need to write to the local parish priest for possible assistance.

Church of Ireland records generally tend to have an earlier start date. Most surviving Church of Ireland records are still held by the local clergy, although some are in the National Archives of Ireland and others are in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. Here are their websites: http://www.nationalarchives.ie/ and http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42

Lists of these surviving registers can also be found at the National Library of Ireland.

I did find a record of a John Burke in Killashee in the Tithe Applotment Books. These were land records 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. It is possible that this is Andrew?s father:

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/results.jsp?surname=burke&firstname=john&county=Longford&parish=&townland=&search=Search

There is also a John Burke recorded in the same parish in the later Griffith?s Valuation, 1854:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&Submit.x=57&Submit.y=16&Submit=Submit&familyname=burke&firstname=John&baronyname=&countyname=LONGFORD&unionname=&parishname=KILLASHEE

Have you looked into Andrew?s emigration much? Generally more information was given at the  the port of arrival rather than the port of departure.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.

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

Longford Library: http://www.longfordlibrary.ie/geneaology.html

Killashee Cemetary: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=2328638

Genealogy links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/longford/index.html

i hope some of this is helpful. Remember to post as much information as you can with regard to the people you are researching. 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.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support