Seeking Ancestry Connection in Ireland

Hi,

Thank you for your message.

In order to find out John and Mary?s parents? names you would need to find their birth records. Also, their marriage records may be useful as sometimes the couple?s fathers? names were recorded on these.

Unfortunately, Catholic records in the parish begin quite late,with the earliest records dating from 1853:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&churchid=1057&CityCounty=Galway&CityCounty=West%20Galway&parish=Ross

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.

You could also check for record of the families in the land acts pertaining to Ireland in the 19th century. However, these give no genealogical information so it will be hard to determine if the results are relevant to you or not. 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 be an idea to contact the West Galway Family History Society to see if they can offer any other assistance or advice. Here are their contact details:

Ashe Road,

St. Joseph?s Community Centre,

Shantalla,

Co. Galway.

Phone: +353 (0)91 860464 Email: galwaywestroots@eircom.net

I hope that they are able to give you some guidance. 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