Hi,
Thanks for your message.
Given the time period church records will probably be your best source of information as civil regsitration did not become mandatory until 1864.
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. Dunmurry belongs to the Catholic parish of Kildare and Rathangan. To see what is available there, follow this link:
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Kildare&parish=Kildare&churchid=709
As you can see Kildare Genealogy have copies available. If you would like to contact them here is their email, however a fee may apply: kildaregenealogy@iol.ie
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.
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/
For any births, deaths, marriages in the family after 1864 you can look in civil 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
Some other websites that you may find 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
Family Search: www.familysearch.org
Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/kildare/index.html
Kildare Library: http://kildare.ie/heritage/local-history.asp
Ireland Gen Projects: http://www.igp-web.com/kildare/index.html
Irish Genealogy Tool-kit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/index.html
I hope 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
