Hi Kathleen,
Have you tried https://familysearch.org/ which is done by the Latter Day Saints? They often have useful information regarding records both in Ireland and the US.
Do you know much about their emigration? Dates, the reason why they left, etc.? Generally more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at (e.g. Liverpool, Ellis Island), this could be a good place to find more information, and perhaps even find out an exact place of origin. Also shipping manifests can be a good source of information.
Church of Ireland parish registers for the period up to 1870 are public records. Registers are available for about one third of the parishes, however many were destroyed in the Public Records Office in Dublin in 1922. Most 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. A list of all surviving registers is available in the National Archives. http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/.
Presbyterian registers are held in three main locations: in local custody, in the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Belfast. PRONI has microfilm copies of almost all registers in Northern Ireland and also lists of records held by the Presbyterian Historical Society. For the rest of Ireland, almost all records are in local custody. It can difficult to locate these as many congregations in the South have moved, amalgamated, or simply disappeared over the last sixty years.
If you have any difficulty with Catholic church records, you could try writing to the parish priest for more assistance.
You can check for information about the frequency of the name in the mid-19th century and any other variant spellings of the name here: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/ .
Information regarding County Fermanagh's heritage are available for a fee from http://fermanagh.rootsireland.ie/ .
Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.
Kind regards,
Cynthia O'Connor
Genealogist
Ireland Reaching Out
