Patrick Skahen (Skehan)

Hi,

Thank you for your message.

Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find information 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.

Do you have any documentation pertaining to the family that mentions any place names in Tipperary at all? This can include wills, marriage/death records,census records, letters, diary entries etc.

There are some places where you can search online, however it may be difficult to discern whether the results are relevant to your family or not without more information:

www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.

www.rootsireland.ie have a large collection of Irish Church records, however you have to pay to use this site.

There are baptisms and records fro some parishes available online at: http://www.igp-web.com/tipperary/index.htm

Do you know Patrick?s father?s name? If you do you could try using the land records to narrow down a parish of origin. The first are the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1838) found at http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp  and there is alos the later Griffith?s Valuation (1848-1864) found at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

Bear in mind the different versions of the name. You can see some of these on the Irish Times website, where they give you an overview of how many households were recorded with a specific surname in mid 19th century Ireland. It gives the results per county for free and then a parish breakdown for a small fee. However, most of the information for the parish breakdown comes from Griffith?s so check that yourself first before spending any money:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&Surname=Skehan&UserID=

Some other websites that you may find helpful 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 Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/tipperary/index.html

Tipperary Archives: http://www.southtipparchives.ie/

Remember to post any new information that you find, particularly concerning parish of origin. 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.

Kind regards,    

Genealogy Support