Hewitt/Curry

Hi,

Thank you for your message. One of the main pieces of information that you need when researching your family history in Ireland is a location. Most Irish record sources- church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations. Until you know a specific location within Ireland, preferably a parish or placename in Longford and Wexford, it may be difficult to do anything more with these records.

As you have posted this on the Taghsheenod page I assume that there is some connection to this parish. One of the places where you can look for information at a local level is in church records. Most Catholic records are held locally so you may need to write to the local parish priest for possible assistance. One website that you may find useful is the Irish Times where they give an overview of what records are available in specific parishes. It also shows you where copies of the records are available. For Taghsheenod parish, follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Longford&parish=Carrickedmond&churchid=140

Unfortunately, as you can see from this link Catholic records for the parish do not begin until c. 1820. However, in the19th century new Catholic parishes were created so starting dates can sometimes be misleading. Many parishes changed their geographical spread so you may find earlier records relating to your family in the records of adjoining parishes:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/counties/rcmaps/longfordrc.htm

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.

You could also check for record of the family in the land acts pertaining to Ireland in the 19th century. There are two:

The Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1838) found at http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp

and Griffith?s Valuation (1848-1864) found at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

It may also be an idea to contact the Local Studies Department in both county libraries for more information. Here are their websites:

http://www.longfordlibrary.ie/lib_arc_home.aspx

http://www.wexford.ie/wex/Departments/Library/YourServices/LocalStudies/What/

The Longford Genealogy Centre may also be able to help, however a fee may apply. Here is their email address: longroot@iol.ie

I hope that this is helpful. Please be patient - as our programme has only begun to rollout across the island of Ireland and volunteers in some areas may not yet be organized.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support