My Great, great, great,great great grandfather Patrick was born in the City of Cork 1n 1760 and he had a son Jeremiah who imigrated to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. All I know of Patrick is that he died on
Inishmaan Island off Galway bay. Not sure when. So I have his name and birthdate and place, and he had a son Jeremiah also born in Cork in 1785. Would love to find out more about Patrick but do not know what Parish he blong to.
Dear Pat
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out and apologies for the delay in replying to your message.
Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find information 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. Could you let us know what Patrick's surname was?
Do you have any documentation pertaining to the family that mentions any place names at all? This can include wills, marriage/death records, census records, letters, diary entries etc. Have you tried searching Ancestry.com for any mention of your ancestor?s name in member family trees or messages? Ancestry is also hosting ?webinars? on their site. The latest focuses on how to use Irish records when you do not know where your ancestor is from.
There are some places where you can search online, however these websites do not have complete collections and many do not cover the period after 1900. You mention both Cork and Galway, you could search the sites suggested below for records of Patrick:
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 Counties Dublin, Kerry, Carlow and parts of Cork have been covered.
Other important sources include the Tithe Applotment Books and Griffith?s Valuation:
Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1837): http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/index.jsp
Griffith?s Valuation (1847-1864): http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/
Some other websites that may be helpful are:
The National Archives of Ireland: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/ you can search the 1901/1911 Census on the National Archives page too
The National Library of Ireland: http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx
Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/index.htm
Irish Genealogy Tool kit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/
Remember to post any new information that you find here. 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.
Best of luck with your search
Clare Doyle
Genealogy Support