Hi
Thank you for your message.
Do you know much about their emigration? The dates, the reason why they left, who they may have travelled with?..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, New York, etc.), this could be a good place to find more information. -And perhaps even find out an exact place of origin.
If you haven't already - You could try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp or the later Griffith's Valuation (1848-64) http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/ or the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) https://familysearch.org/ for McCarthy families in Kilkenny.
Do you know the family's religion? As this might help to narrow the search.
Most Catholic records are held locally - One site which might be of use is - http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/ - where you can ?browse? an overview of available records per county. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for possible assistance.
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/. The Anglican Record Project is has created an index to their records: http://ireland.anglican.org/cmsfiles/pdf/AboutUs/library/AngRecord/bunclodyunionindex.pdf
Some sites which may be 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
Genealogy resources & services for Kilkenny include: (fees may apply to some of these services)
Rothe House: http://rothehouse.com/rothe-house-genealogy/
Roots Web: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlkik/
Kilkenny County Library: http://kilkennylibrary.kilkenny.ie/eng/Our_Services/Local_Studies/Genealogical_Sources_for_family_research/
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
