I'm looking for more information on the ancestry of John Coumans (also spelled Cummins, Cummings, Cuming, Commans etc.). He was born in 1795 in Couty Cork, Ireland. He married Jane Sargeant, also born in Cork County, but in 1800. Together, or prior to their marriage, they immigrated to Canada, eventually to New Brunswick, and finally settled in Chepstow, Bruce County Ontario. Together the couple had 7 children: Mary (born about 1819), Simon, Jane, John Jr., Elizabeth, Anne and Thomas Coumans. I believe that Mary married an Irishman from County Caven possibly in Canada (Peter Murray) and moved to Illinois in the US by 1836. She possibly lived in Chicago for a short time before moving to the southern part of Illinois where she died 2 Jan 1852 and is buried. I think she married prior to 1838. Her 4 children were born in Illinois.
Thank you for your kind attention.
Sincerely, Katie
Monday 25th Nov 2013, 04:48PM
Message Board Replies
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Hi - thank you for your message. The reality of finding documentation pertaining to births/baptisms/marriages/deaths in Ireland prior to 1800 ? particularly in rural areas ? is that they simply may not exist. Some registers for urban areas pre-dating 1800 may exist ? though often these can be fragmented- as there was an increased need in cities or larger towns to document the population. Please also note that the Church of Ireland was the official church of the country and therefore the bulk of information that does survive for earlier periods is often from these registers.
Most Catholic records are held locally - One site which might be of use is - http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/ - where you can ?browse? an overview of available records per county. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for possible assistance.
Church of Ireland parish registers for the period up to 1870-are public records. Registers are available for about one third of the parishes, however many were destroyed in the Public Records Office in Dublin in 1922. Most 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. A list of all surviving registers is available in the National Archives. http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/. The Anglican Record Project is has created an index to their records: http://ireland.anglican.org/cmsfiles/pdf/AboutUs/library/AngRecord/bunclodyunionindex.pdf
Some sites & services for Cork family history which might be helpful to you are:
http://www.corkarchives.ie/genealogy/
http://www.from-ireland.net/county-cork-genealogy/
http://www.cork-guide.ie/genealogy.html
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
Tuesday 28th Jan 2014, 10:33AM