John William Sheehan 1830

Hi David,

Thank you very much for your message.

Your search for information on your gg grandparents will be much easier if you can narrow down their place of origin in Cork to a specific parish as most Irish record sources- church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations.

There are some places online where you can try and look for church records pertaining to the family which would give you a parish name:

Irish Genealogy have begun a project to upload church records to their website free of charge. Only some counties have been covered to date and so far only Catholic records from Cork city and some parts of Cork county have been uploaded. You may be very lucky and be able to find something pertaining to teh family here:

http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords

www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.

www.rootsireland.ie have a large collection of Irish Church records, however you have to pay to use this site.

Have you tried using the land records pertaining to Ireland in the 19th century to narrow down parish? These do not have any genealogical information but 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/

Have you tried looking into the family?s emigration? Sometimes more infomation can be found at the port of arrival rather than that of departure. You may be lucky and find a place name here. For information on Canadian immigration records check:

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html

Have you exhausted all possible leads in Canada? Have you checked all documentation pertaining to the family for more information.This can include wills, marriage/death records,census records, letters, diary entries etc.Sometimes more specific places of origin can even be inscribed on tombstones.

Here are some other websites that may help you with your research:

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

Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/index.htm

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

Ireland Gen Projects: http://www.igp-web.com/cork/index.htm

Ireland Genealogy Websites: https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Ireland_Genealogy_Websites?goback=.gde_3030105_member_230205486

I hope some of this is helpful. Remember to post any new information that you find here. 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