Hi Richard,
Thanks very much for your message. I hope that someone recognises the name and makes a connection with you to help you further your research.
Unfortunately, given the early dates you mention it may be difficult to find more information as 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. Furthermore, it can be very difficult without a more specific place of origin. 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.
There are some places you could try searching online, however these websites do not have complete collections:
www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.
www.rootsireland.ie have a large collection of Irish Church records, however you have to pay to use this site.
http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/ have begun a project to upload Irish church records to their site free of charge. However so far only some parts of Cork have been covered.
You should also bear in mind that the name may have changed over time. Here are some variations of the name Swinney:
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&UserID=
The variation Swiney, was quite popular in Cork in the 19th century. Here are the Swiney?s that were recorded in the land record known as the TIthe Applotment Books (1823-38) in Co. Cork:
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/results.jsp?surname=swiney&firstname=&county=Cork&townland=&parish=&search=Search&sort=&pageSize=&pager.offset=10
The later Griffith?s Valuation (1848-64) also recorded some Swiney?s:
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&Submit.x=60&Submit.y=10&Submit=Submit&familyname=swiney&firstname=First+Name&baronyname=&countyname=CORK&unionname=&parishname=
Here are the Swiney?s recorded in Cork, in the 1700?s in the above mentioned Irish Genealogy website:
http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/search.jsp?namefm=&namel=swiney&exact=&name2fm=&name2l=&location=cork&dd=&mm=&yy=&diocese=CORK+%26+ROSS+(RC)&parish=¢ury=1700&decade=&sort=&pageSize=100&ddB=&mmB=&yyB=&ddM=&mmM=&yyM=&ddD=&mmD=&yyD=&locationB=&locationM=&locationD=&member0=&member1=&member2=&member3=&member4=&member5=&member6=&member7=&member8=&member9=&namef0=&namef1=&namef2=&namef3=&namef4=&namef5=&namef6=&namef7=&namef8=&namef9=&namel0=&namel1=&namel2=&namel3=&namel4=&namel5=&namel6=&namel7=&namel8=&namel9=&keyword=&submit=Search
Some other websites that may be 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
Irish Genealogy Tool kit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/
Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/cork/index.html
Failte Romhat: www.failteromhat.com
Cork Past and Present: www.corkpastandpresent.com
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
