Seeking the Kehoes of Clonegal

Hi,

Thank you for your message.

You could try searching in church records for information.

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 Clonegal parish, follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&churchid=700&CityCounty=Carlow&CityCounty=Carlow&parish=Clonegal

Unfortunately, as you can see from this records for the parish do not begin until 1833. However, in the19th century new Catholic parishes were created so starting dates can sometimes be misleading. Many parishes changed their geographical spread so you may find earlier records relating to your family in the records of adjoining parishes.

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/counties/rcmaps/wicklowrc.htm

Most surviving Church of Ireland records are still held by the local clergy, although some are in the National Archives of Ireland and others are in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. Here are their websites: http://www.nationalarchives.ie/ and http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42

Lists of these surviving registers can also be found at the National Library of Ireland.

Also, Church of Ireland records for Co. Carlow are available free of charege online at http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/ As Moyacomb parish straddles the boarder between Carlow and Wicklow you may be able to find some records at this site.

You could also check for record of the family in the land acts 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/

Civil registration became compulsory in Ireland in 1864 so any births, deaths or marriages in the family after this date would be recorded in these 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 online at:

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347

Finally, you could check the 1901/1911 census records to see if you can find any Kehoe?s still in the area at the time. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

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/wicklow/index.html

Family Search: www.familysearch.org

Alternatively, you could try contacting Wicklow Family History Centre for assistance, however a fee may apply. Here is their email address:wfh@eircom.net

I hope that 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

I'm almost too embarrassed to reply after all this time. Thank you so much for the information. I have, in fact, investigated all the sources you have given me. I have subscriptions to ancestry, findmypast, rootsireland and my heritage. I use familysearch.org and irishgenealogy.ie all the time.

All of the church records would be Catholic, and I have not found any that have the marriage of Arthur Byrne and Eliza Kehoe circa 1820. I have the baptisms of the youngest Byrne children post 1833 in Clonegal, but not the older ones, including my gg grandfather, Edward Byrne. 

In the tithe applotments, I did find Arthur Byrne but I have no idea what first name to look for a Kehoe. There is no Martin or Owen that I've found. I did find them in Griffiths in Clonegal but no sign of a father's name. I could not find a marriage record for either one that I could be sure was the right one. 

Arthur and Eliza left the Fitzwilliam estate in 1847, with assisted emigration, so later records in Ireland are not helpful. I have the emigration records from Coollattin. They lived at Coolruss, Clonegal, and the Byrne family is still there.

The Wicklow Family History Centre has no records beyond what I've found, and I even spent time at the Sheffield archives searching through the Coollattin estate records and came up empty. 

I need to find the first name of Eliza Kehoe's father. Maybe it's Owen or Martin, but I don't know. Based on the name of the second son, Edward, that could be Eliza's father's name. I have records of the family in Canada but nothing about the parents of either Arthur or Eliza. It would be amazing to find out the answers.

This October, I'm returning to Ireland for the 13th time. I've found Byrne relatives who know less than I do but we enjoy visiting back and forth. I will have some time to return to the NLI and Archives, but I have not found anything there before, nor in their catalogues, that would look like they are helpful. I will certainly look again.

It may be time to move on to ancestors in Carlow (where I have found some records in Bagnelstown). I'm at a loss to search for ancestors in Cavan and Galway as only the immigrant ancestor is known and I have no idea of siblings or parents. Their marriages fell in the gap in the church records here in Canada.

The search goes on. I've started writing what I know.

Thanks again. You are doing a fabulous job that is invaluable to those of us in the diaspora.

Ann Burns