Tracing Bates- Thompson Families

Hi,

Thank you for your message.

The fact that you have these placenames will really help you in your search for your family history! Most of the record sources in Ireland-church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations, more precisely on parishes.

Convoy and Stranolor are both parishes in Donegal.

Letterkenny and Corravaddy are both townlands in the parish of Conwal, Co. Donegal.

Castlefinn is a townland in the parish of Donaghmore, Co. Donegal.

However, do you have any other information that you can share? Do you know the names of John's parents, their occupations, any other siblings he may have had? Do you know any important dates in either of the familes, such as birth/marriage dates etc? Any fornemames, occupations etc in the Thompson family? Did any of the Thompsons emigrate? What do you know about their emigration?

One of the main sources of genealogical information available in Ireland are church records. Presbyterian registers are held in three main locations: in local custody, in the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI) http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm and at the Presbyterian Historical Society http://www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com in Belfast. PRONI has microfilm copies of almost all registers in Northern Ireland and also lists of records held by the Presbyterian Historical Society.

You could also do a search for the families in Griffith's Valuation. This is a property valuation survey that was carried out between 1848 and 1864. Although it doesn't offer any genealogical infomration it can be used to tie a person to a specific place at a specific time. You can search the valuation here:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/ 

You could also look for the families in the 1901 and 1911 census records at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

Some other websites which may help 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

Family Search: https://familysearch.org/  

I hope that this helps. 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