Whelan /Phelan/ O Faolain

Hi Kelle,

Thank you for your message.

Just wanted to double check the dates you have provided: born 1813 and married 1884..are these correct?

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support

Thank you for your reply.  You are right. I did put the wrong marriage date. I believe it to have been 29 Jan 1845 at Kill Parish, Waterford.  In the early 1990s my aunt  (now deceased)was in contact with a kind parishioner who sent this information from Waterford Heritage Survey Ref: CM/ES 1377 (11 Nov 1992).

Kind regards

Kelle

Hi Kelle,

Thanks for getting back to me. Yes I had been thinking it would have been a VERY old age to be getting married at!

Given these dates the main source of information will be church records as civil registration did not begin 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. For Kill/Rossmore  parish, follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Waterford&parish=Rossmore&churchid=1110

As you can see from the above link records for the early go back to 1797 so hopefully you may be able to find some information pertaining to Margaret there. Waterford Heritage and Genealogy centre have copies so you could contact them however a fee may apply. Here is their email: mnoc@iol.ie

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/

Please note that the land records are divided according to civil parishes. Kill town is part of Kilbarrymeaden civil parish:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/townlands/index.cfm?fuseaction=TownlandsInCivil&civilparishid=2397&civilparish=Kilbarrymeaden&citycounty=Waterford

If the the family were still in the area after 1864 all births, deaths, marriages would be recorded 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

Have you looked into her emigration much?  Generally, more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. The University of Woolongong has produced, on microfiche, a complete index and transcript of all information concerning immigrants of Irish origin recorded on ships' passenger lists between 1848 and 1867 for New South Wales. These are useful for finding out an exact place of origin as well as parents' names. The Public Record Office of Victoria has good online databases of settlers at www.prov.vic.gov.au Otherwise, other records may be found in the Colonial Office Papers of the UK National Archives, class reference CO 201. This class contains a wide variety of records, including petitions for assisted passages, emigrants' lists, records of emigrants on board ship, petitions from settlers for financial assistance and much more.

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

Family Search: www.familysearch.org

Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/waterford/index.html

Waterford library:http://www.waterfordcity.ie/library/localstudies/

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