I am new to genealogy and this site.
My great-great grandmother was Jennie Alexandria Saint Helen, according to records compiled years ago by my grandfather, his sister Helen, and her son Michael. I believe that Jennie, in her old age, lived with or near my grand-aunt Helen in Los Angeles, California, so I'm fairly certain her name is correct. If their information is correct, Jennie was born in 9 March 1863 in Country Cork, Ireland to Richard Saint Helen and Isabella Byers. I believe that Richard and Isabella emmigrated to the United States shortly after that. Unfortunately, I have no birth place or parish information for Jennie. I'm hoping to figure out which parish the Helen or Saint/St. Helen family may have lived in at that time, as I'm missing information on her parents and have duplicate/conflicting information for them.
For Richard St. Helen, I have two records. On one, it shows a possible birth date of 1839 in Cork, Ireland. On the other is shows 1840 in Cork, Ireland. Neither record indicates city or parish. The latter record shows a father, Joseph Helen, and mother named Jane. Joseph was born "around 1800 in Ireland or France" and Jane was born "around 1803 in Ireland." They were supposedly married around 1824 in Cork and had all of their seven children in Cork, Cork, Ireland, of which Richard was supposedly the sixth. If these are truly his parents, I have no idea how "Saint" was added to his surname but not to his siblings. So this parentage is in doubt.'
I do have a note that Richard and Isabella were married 29 April 1862 in the Trinity Presbyterian Church, Cork, Cork, Ireland. As that church was completed in 1861, I'm hoping this is reliable information.
Any help or pointers about how to track down the parish of the Helen/St. Helen family between 1840 and 1865 would be appreciated. When I come to visit Ireland sometime in the next 5 to 8 years, I'm hoping my visit will be fruitful by starting with the right parish). Thank you!
Monday 24th Jun 2013, 04:58AM
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Just went through the Tithe Applotments. No matches on any variation of Saint or St. or St with Helen or Hellen. However, I did find one Helen in St. Finbar's parish and a handful of Hellen in Kilcrohane (1831) and Kilnagross (1827). Unfortunately, no Joseph Helen, indeed no Joseph Helen across all counties in the applotments.
Also visited the 1901 census and found a Richard Helen in Kilnagross, but he was much too young for the Richard I'm looking for. Broadening the search to all counties, there are 83 Helen matches and 21 Hellen matches. Most of the Helen and Hellen surnames are all found in Cork, but scattered over the parishes, so perhaps my question about which parish St. Helen came from isn't even answerable.
If I could find an online image of the marriage record of Richard and Isabella in April of 1862 in the Trinity Pres. Church, that might shed some light on things. I just emailed phsilibrarian@pcinet.org, the Presbyterian History Society in case that was the right place to go.
Monday 24th Jun 2013, 05:39AM -
The Griffiths Valuation survey was conducted in Co. Cork in 1852. The head of household listing shows a Joseph Helen on Douglas St. St. Nicholas parish which I presume is in Cork city. You can go to www.rootsireland.ie register and access Griffiths for free. There is a charge to view other records. Another possible site is www.irishgenealogy.ie which has some Cork church records and is a free site.
Roger McDonnell
Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Monday 24th Jun 2013, 03:43PM -
After my last posting, I visited five other Irish genealogy and civil records sites, and one of them, I think the one you are suggesting, did finally show me a Joseph Helen, on Douglas Street in St. Nicholas parish in County Cork, around 1824.
That is a starting point. Thank you for finding he was still there almost 30 years later.
Also studied the Trinity Pres. Church's site and found they'll do a search of their marriage and baptism records for about $30 euros. Unless folks reading this board know of a better resource, I'll do just that.
Tuesday 25th Jun 2013, 06:22AM