Hi Seana,
Thank you for your message.
Have you tried looking in church records for George and Jane?s baptismal records? If you can find these it should give you their mothers? names. As they were married in Hillsborough it is possible that this is where Jane was born as usually a marriage took place in the bride?s parish of origin. Hopefully George was born there too.
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. hillsborough civil parish belongs to the Catholic parish of Blaris. For Blaris parish, follow this link:
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Down&parish=Blarisr&churchid=451
As you can see from this link records only start in 1840. However, in the19th century new Catholic parishes were created so starting dates can sometimes be misleading. Many parishes changed their geographical spread so you may find earlier records relating to your family in the records of adjoining parishes. CLick here for Catholic parishes in Down:
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/counties/rcmaps/downrc.htm
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.
www.familysearch.org has some church records available online.
You could also check for record of the family in the land acts 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/
Perhaps if you can find some record of George SNr. in these it will give you a parish of origin for his son (if not Hillsborough)
It may also be an idea to look into the couple's emigration as sometimes more inforamtion was given at the port of arrival rather than that of departure. For information on Canadian immigration records check the National Library and Archives at: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html
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
Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/down/index.html
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
