Ancestor Search

Hi Monterey,

Thank you for your message.

There are a few places where you can look for information on the McCluskys:

Census Records:

The 1901/1911 census records are now available online and can give some really good information.You may be able to find information on John if the time period suits, or if not, on any family members that were still in the area at the time.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

Civil Records:

Civil registration became mandatory in Ireland in 1864, so all births, deaths and marriages after this year were recorded in these records. You should be able to find John?s birth record in these if he was born after 1864. This will give you parents? names. You may also be able to find his parents? marriage and/or birth records depending on when these events occurred.  Civil records are available from the General Register?s Office in Dublin. Here is their website:

http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm

You can search the indexes to these records online at:

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347

For more information on these records and how to obtain them check: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-civil-registration.html

Church Records:

You can use church records for information also. You can find births, marriages and deaths in these records up until around 1900, more importantly you may be able to find records from before 1864 in these records also. 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  Banagher parish, follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Derry&parish=Banagher&churchid=349

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.

Land Records:

You can also check the land records pertaining to Ireland in the 19th century for record of the family. These records give no genealogical information however they can sometimes be used to tie a person to a specific place.  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/

Some other websites that you may find helpful 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

The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/derry/index.html

Genealogy Tool-kit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/index.html

Family Search: www.familysearch.org (Has some church records from Ireland available)

I hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your research!

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support