Hi Margaret,
Thank you very much for your message. I hope that someone with information makes a connection with you and helps you to further your research.
It will be much easier, however, if you can narrow down a more specific place in Cavan. Most Irish record sources- church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations. Until you know a specific location within Ireland, preferably a parish or placename, it may be difficult to do anything more with these records.
Do the baptismal records you have found list a parish name? Do you have any other documentation pertaining to the family that mentions any place names at all?
I did do a search for Irvine in the Tithe Applotment Books. These are land records taken in Ireland 1823-38. They don?t give any genealogical information but can sometimes be used to tie a person to a specific place. There was one result for a W. Irvine in Cavan:
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/results.jsp?surname=irvine&firstname=&county=Cavan&parish=&townland=&search=Search
In the later land record called Griffith Valuation (1848-64) there are only Irvines recorded in Bailieborough and Kildallan parishes, however none of these are William:
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&Submit.x=51&Submit.y=20&Submit=Submit&familyname=irvine&firstname=&baronyname=&countyname=CAVAN&unionname=&parishname=
Have you tried looking into their emigration for more information? 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. The University of Woolongong has produced, on microfiche, a complete index and transcript of all information concerning immigrants of Irish origin recorded on ships' passenger lists between 1848 and 1867 for New South Wales. These are useful for finding out an exact place of origin as well as parents' names. http://www-library.uow.edu.au/archives/collections/UOW095480.html
The Public Record Office of Victoria has good online databases of settlers at www.prov.vic.gov.au
Some other websites that 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 National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/
The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm
Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/index.htm
Family Search: www.familysearch.org
Genealogy links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/cavan/index.html
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
