Hi Fergus,
Thank you very much for your message. I hope that someone with information on the family makes a connection with you.
In the meantime here are some places you could try looking for information:
Census Records:
have you tried looking in the 1901/1911 census records for the family? These can give lots of useful information. You can search these online here:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/
Civil Records:
Civil registration began in Ireland in 1864 so any births, deaths or marriages in the family after this date would be recorded in these records. Civil records are available from the General Register?s Office in Dublin. Here is their website:
http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm
You can search the indexes to these records up to 1958 online at:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347
Church records:
Most Catholic records are held locally so you may need to write to the local parish priest for possible assistance. One website that you may find useful is the Irish Times where they give an overview of what records are available in specific parishes. It also shows you where copies of the records are available. For Moville parish, follow this link:
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Donegal&parish=Moville&churchid=376
As you can see from the above link Donegal Ancestry have copies available. Heer is their email if you would like to contact them, however a fee may apply:info@donegalancestry.com
Most surviving Church of Ireland records are still held by the local clergy, although some are in the National Archives of Ireland and others are in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. Here are their websites: http://www.nationalarchives.ie/ and http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42
Lists of these surviving registers can also be found at the National Library of Ireland.
Land Records:
You could also check for record of the family in the land records pertaining to Ireland in the 19th century. There are two:
The Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1838) found at http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp
and Griffith?s Valuation (1848-1864) found at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/
Some other websites that you may find useful are:
Some other websites that may be helpful 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
Family Search: www.familysearch.org
Genealogy links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/donegal/index.html
Donegal Genealogy resources: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~donegal/
I hope that some of this is helpful. Please be patient - as our programme has only begun to rollout across the island of Ireland and volunteers in some areas may not yet be organized.
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
