Hi,
Thank you for your message.
It is important to be aware that unfortunately, 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. Also, as the Church of Ireland was the official chuch of the country any records that do survive are usually found in these registers. For information on Church of Ireland registers go to these links:
http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/.
For Catholic records, the irishtimes website can be useful as it gives an overview of what records are available in specific parishes. Unfortunately records for Ematris do not begin until c. 1848. To see what is available follow this link:
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Monaghan&parish=Ematris&churchid=307
Have you heard of the Tithe Applotment Books? These were compiled between 1823 and 1837 in order to determine the amount which occupiers of agricultural holdings should pay in tithes to the Church of Ireland . There is a manuscript book for almost every parish, giving the names of occupiers, the amount of land held, and the sums to be paid in tithes. I did a search of Drope in Monagahan and a result came back for a Thos. Drope in Dernamoyle, however it is dates 1830. So it may be a relative that remained in Ireland? To see the results and to do your own searches, follow this link:
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/results.jsp?surname=drope&firstname=&county=Monaghan&parish=&townland=&search=Search
Perhaps you could also try looking in to Robert's millitary career. For information on what records are available for British Army personnel check the UK National Archives at the following link:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/
Some other websites which you may find useful are:
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
The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm
Family Search: https://familysearch.org/
The Library & Archives of Canada - http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html
Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/monaghan/index.html
I hope that this is helpful, best of luck with your research!
Kinds regards,
Genealogy Support