any help would be great

Hi Noeleen,

Thank you very much for your message. I hope that someone recognises the family and is able to assist you.

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 Clare 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 these websites do not have complete collections.

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.

Have you tried looking into the family?s emigration? Sometimes more infomation can be found at the port of arrival rather than that of departure. You may be lucky and find a place name here. 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. http://www-library.uow.edu.au/archives/collections/UOW095480.html

The Public Record Office of Victoria has good online databases of settlers at www.prov.vic.gov.au

I also suggest that you have a look at the Clare Co. Library Genealogy pages. They have an excellent collection of genealogy resources available. Please note the section to the left of their webpage called ?Donated Material? as there are some church records available here-you may be lucky and find something.

http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/genealog.htm

Some other websites that may be 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

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 Genealogy Tool-kit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/

Genealogy Links: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/

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.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support