Dear Jacqui
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out and apologies for the delay in replying to your message.
Firstly, Have you tried searching Ancestry.com for any mention of your ancestor?s name in member family trees or messages?
As you can see from the link below, St. Catherine?s s a Civil Parish in Dublin:
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/townlands/index.cfm?fuseaction=TownlandsInCivil&civilparishid=934&civilparish=St.%20Catherines&citycounty=Dublin
Records for the corresponding Roman Catholic Parish of St. Catherine?s begin in 1740, though there are some missing records within the records series themselves. Church of Ireland records begin 1699 for baptisms and 1679 for marriages. There are also some death records dating from 1679 to 1898.
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:
www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.
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
The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/ that you could use to research the British Solider aspect mentioned above
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/
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
