I am researching my maternal ggrandfather's family who emigrated to Fort Ann NY US abt 1849. They were Richard O'Brien (mother Sheils) and Elizabeth Toole. Their marriage took place Taghmon RC church in 1840.
Any information about them and their ancestors would be greatly appreciated. I will be in Mullingar in September and am working hard to learn as much as I can prior.
Thank you very much.
Paige Morrison
Hi Paige,
Thank you very much for your message. I am delighted to hear that you will be visiting in September-I hope you are able to find some information before then!
As civil registration did not become mandatory until 1864 the main source of information we have on births,marriages, deaths is in church records. 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. For Taghmon parish, follow this link:
www.familysearch.org have some church records available online, you may be lucky and find some relating to the O? Briens and Tooles here.
For births, marriages and deaths in the family after 1864, there should be a civil record of it. 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 online at:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347
You could also try looking in the land records pertaining to Ireland in the 19th century to see if you can narrow down a townland. 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/
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
The US National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/
Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/westmeath/index.html
I hope that some of these links are helpful. Alternatively, you could try contacting Westmeath Heritage Centre for assistance, however a fee may apply. Here is their email: dunnasimoate@eircom.net
Finally, we have recently added a link ot the top of our page for people who are visiting in 2013. It takes you to a short web form. We would really appreciate it if you could take a moment to complete it. Thank you!
Best of luck with your research! 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
For Paige Morrison: I have indexed many of the Taghmon R.C. parish records including witnesses and sponsors - mostly my family names DOLAN and TORMY. These indexes can be searched at the IGP website
http://www.igp-web.com/IGPArchives/ire/westmeath/church.htm Hope you find this helpful in your search. Judie Mason