Hi,
Thank you for your message.
Is it possible that the 5 missing children may have died before the family joined Patrick in Australia, or possibly on board a ship to Australia? It may be worth looking into the family?s travel records.
You could try doing a search for Cullens in Kilmactranny parish in Griffith?s Valuation to see if there are any leads.This is a property valuation survey carried out 1848-1864. It doesn?t give you any genealogical information but it may give you some names to go on. I already did a search and here are the results:
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&Submit.x=30&Submit.y=10&Submit=Submit&familyname=cullen&firstname=First+Name&baronyname=&countyname=SLIGO&unionname=&parishname=KILMACTRANNY
Perhaps you could try taking some of these names as a start for your search.
Civil registration began in 1864 so you may be able to find some records on the family here. These are available from the GRO in DUblin. Here is their website:
http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm
You can search the indexes to these records online at:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347
For more information go to :
http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-civil-registration.html
You could also check the 1901/1911 census records to see if there are any Cullens still in the area at teh time:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/
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
Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/sligo/index.html
You could also try contacting Sligo Heritage and Genealogy Centre for assistance, however a fee may apply. Here is their email: heritagesligo@eircom.net
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