William Coulter/Catherine Kilpatrick

The couple married before the start of statutory birth registration in Ireland (1864) and so you won?t find a birth certificate for any children born before that. For that you need to rely on church records, where they still exist. You don?t say what denomination your family were but I?d guess Church of Ireland, based on Andrew?s denomination in the 1901 census.

Dunkineely is in the parish of Killaghtee. They have the following early records:

Baptisms, 1810-31; marriages, 1814-31; burials, 1819- 22; marriage banns, 1809-14.

Then there?s nothing till 1873. (The missing records were probably destroyed in the 1922 fire in Dublin).

To analyse whether there?s any connection with the family you have found in Griffiths, we need to know what Andrew Coulter?s occupation was on his son?s marriage certificate? Was he a farmer? If he was, then you might expect to find him in Griffiths and the tithes. However if he was a weaver or labourer, or someone in a trade where you wouldn?t have any land, then he won?t normally be listed. Also what were the couple?s townlands on the 1857 certificate? (I can see that the children were born in Dunkineely but is that also both their addresses in 1857?)

Note that in Ireland Kilpatrick and Kirkpatrick are the same name and interchangeable. I do see a couple of Kirkpatrick households in Griffiths for Dunkineely.

There?s a couple of deaths in the area that might relate to your family. You might want to order copies to see if they shed any information:

Andrew Coulter registered Donegal town, died July ? Sept 1890, est year of birth 1805. Also sane name died Jan-Mar 1888, est year of birth 1795. And 2 Mary Coulters, again registered Donegal town,  died 1875 born 1809, and died Oct ? Dec 1892 born 1800.

Thank you for your quick response. Yes, the Coulter's denomination was the Church of England.

Andrew Coulter's occupation was not listed on the marriage record I found on Ancestry.com of William and Catherine nor their address except for Inver, Donegal. My gg grandfather was a farmer in Indiana, so I am guessing his father was too.

In the 1911 Census of Ireland Inver, Fanaghans, a Richard Coulter was listed as having a grocery shop. My gg uncle in Indiana also had a grocery store. In the same listing all in a row are the Allinghams (my gg aunt's married name) followed by Andrew Coulter, and James Underwood. Andrew Underwood from Inver, Donegal (named as his place of birth on his passport) was my great uncle's witness of his will in Indiana.

In the 1901 census in Fanaghans Lower, Andrew Coulter, born in 1841, whom I am assuming is a brother of William. Four of Andrew's five children have the same names as William's children.  Andrew's 5th child's middle name is Scott, the same as one of William's children, which is also the maiden name of William's mother.

I am guessing that the Andrew Coulter born in 1805 is more likely to be the father, and Mary 1805 the mother of William b. abt 1832, Andrew 1841, John b. abt 1842, and Richard b. abt. 1843.

Some of the on-line sites only have transcripts of some of the information on the original certificates. It?s probably worth your while getting a copy of that 1857 marriage certificate as it should contain additional information eg addresses and occupations. You might also juts like to have it.

The marriage was registered in Donegal Town in 1857 Volume 4, page 595.

You can order a photocopy of the certificate from GRO Roscommon for ?4.  http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Apply-for-Certificates.aspx

You have to download and print off the form. Then either post or fax it back to them. You can?t e-mail it to them. However if you want them to e-mail the cert to back to you, they will do that, so tick the relevant box.

Put the reference details on the form (anywhere). Don?t worry about leaving some boxes blank. As long as GRO have the location, name(s), year, quarter (where there is one), volume and page number they should find it.

My ancestors from Inver, Donegal include a Margaret Kilpatrick who married Andrew Allingham on June 16, 1816 in Inver parish. Do you think perhaps we are connected?  

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