Hi,
Thank you very much for your message!
Unfortunately,it may be difficult to find information on the family in Ireland without a more specific place of origin. Most Irish record sources- church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations. Until you know a specific location within Ireland, preferably a parish or placename, it may be difficult to do anything more with these records.
However there are a few places you can try, and hopefully your shamrock plant will give you luck and help you find a lead!
There are a few websites where you can search for Patrick?s name. It will greatly help if you know the name of other family members such as parents, as this will allow you to narrow down your results:
www.familysearch.org this has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.
www.rootsireland.ie has a vast collection of Irish hurch records available, however you have to pay to use this site.
http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/ There is currently an ongoing project to upload Irish church records here free of charge. However, to date only Counties Dublin, Kerry, Carlow and parts of Cork have been uploaded. You could search these records now on the off chance that Patrick was from one of these counties. However, also keep an eye on it in the future as more counties will be added.
Also, if you do have some other family names you could try searching in the land records pertaining to Ireland in the 19th century. These do not contain any genealogical information but they can sometimes be used to tie a person to a specific place. As you have been given Roscommon and Westmeath as possible leads you could try searching in these counties first. Although the results will not be concrete you can possibly use them as a starting point. There are two records:
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/
It may also be an idea to look into Patrick?s emigration as sometimes good information was given at the port of arrival. For information on US immigration records check the National Archives at http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/
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
Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/
I hope that some of these are helpful and that they help you narrow down a place of origin. Once you have this more avenues of research will open up to you. 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.
All the best,
Genealogy Support
