Looking for Mick, I know you're there somewhere.

Hi Veronica,

Thank you for your message.

Unfortunately, civil registration did not become mandatory in Ireland until 1864, so prior to this records were kept by the local parish church. Sometimes the records are good and can have an early start date, whereas in some parishes records do not begin until the latter half of the 29th century. Clontuskert falls into the latter category I am afraid. Catholic records for the parish do not begin until 1865 so you will be unable to find Michael?s birth record if he was Catholic:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Roscommon&parish=Clontuskert&churchid=540

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.

Have you tried looking into Michael?s emigration to see if you can confirm Roscommon as a place of origin?  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.

Alternatively you could try contacting the Heritage and Genealogical centre in Roscommon for assistance, however a fee may apply. Here is their email: info@roscommonroots.com

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

Hello Veronica,

left a message for you on one of your other posts re: Michael Kelly.

My great, great grandfather, Stephen Kelly, was one of Michael Kelly's sons [his fifth]. On his birth certificate it states that Michael Kelly's fathers name was William Kelly and his mother was Margaret Loughnane.

It also states that Michael Kelly's place of birth was Moor, Roscommon. I assume this is the Parish of Moore, at the southern end of Roscommon. Unfortunately no townland is mentioned.

As for arriving in Australia... Michael Kelly and Sarah Noon's wedding cert. gives his age as 23 at the time of their wedding in 1858. A check of the ages of all the Michael Kelly's on the assisted immigrants list shows that only one was of the right age when he arrived to have been 23 in 1858! All the others being either too old or too young. This Michael Kelly arrived on board the Shalimar which arrived in Melbourne in Sept 1857. I've yet to access a passenger list for the Shalimar to find which county he was from but I am fairly sure he is going to be our man.

This means that he met and married Sarah Noon sometime between that September and the following January.

Grant from Melbourne.

P.s. Would love to get in touch.