Patrick and Frances Gilchrist

Dear Gilchrist:

Thank you for your post to the Ireland Reaching Out message board and welcome.

I have found a family with those three names that you have mentioned but with different baptism dates and mother is named Mary not Frances.

This family was located in Loughrea.

Bridget Gilchreest baptised 18 April 1854.  Parents were:  Patrick Gilchreest and Mary Keighry

Thomas Kilchreest baptised 3 November 1851.  Same Parents

Patrick Gilchreest 17 April 1854.  Same parents.  It would appear that Bridget and Patrick were twins.  The digitsed scan for this record is below:

https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632952#page/43/mode/1up

Please let me know if the above looks like a match.  

Kind regards,

Jane

Jane,

I can't believe it. I think you have found them. My cousin has told me that his father said they came from Galway but we didn't have any evidence. The birthdates don't line up with those from the ship records when they migrated, or marriage records but I suppose there may be many reasons why they could differ. The differences in spelling of the family name was common in those days. The link to the Parish records you included was very useful and I am performing a search for other family members. 

I am not familiar with these Parish records and would like to ask some questions. From this record the Diocese is Clonfert. Are you able to tell at which church the baptisms actually took place? Now I know the information you provided I will plan to visit where they are from. Should I go to Clonfert or Loughrea, or somewhere else? Are there Parish records available for years before and after those included by the link you sent? Can you suggest how I could access Marriage and Death records for this Parish? 

Now I know where they are from I would like to try to connect with a person who may have specialized knowldge on this family. Do you have a suggestion on how I could find such a person.

Again, I wish to thank you for providing this information.

Ken Baulderstone

Dear Ken:

Thank you for your reply.  If you're satisfied that this family could be yours,  you can check out the link that I posted in my original reply.  The National Library holds the microfilms of the parish register for Loughrea and you can access them online.  

As to other records,  Roots Ireland which is a subscription site has a large number of parish registers transcribed on its site and I note that they have new records for Loughrea including births, marriages and deaths from early in the 1800s.  You can take out a short subscription to them to view and then cross reference them with the NLI registers.  The link for Roots Ireland is here:  http://www.rootsireland.ie/

In order to view church records after 1900, you will have to view the St Brendan's Cathedral parish office in Loughrea.  The link is here:  http://www.loughreacathedral.ie/pages/contact-us.php

I would recommend that you email the parish office to be sure that they will allow you to access the records.

As to other records, you can view many Civil records online now through the Irish Genealogy website.  The link for that is here:  https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/

We have some volunteers in the Loughrea area who I will copy this post to and they will reply via this thread.  If you are planning on visiting Ireland, please let me know at:  jhalloranryan@irelandxo.com and I can arrange to have a volunteer meet with you when you visit Loughrea.  

If you have any other questions, please let me know.  

Kind regards,

Jane

Dear Ken:

There is a local volunteer in the Loughrea area who will be happy to meet with you when you visit.  Please let me know what your dates are by contacting me directly at:  jhalloranryan@irelandxo.com  

All the best,  

Jane 

Hi Ken:

One of our local volunteers will be delighted to meet with you when you have your travel plans finalised.  Will you please contact me directly and I can give you further contact information?  You can contact me at:  jhalloranryan@irelandxo.com

All the best,

Jane

Hi Ken:

One of our local volunteers will be delighted to meet with you when you have your travel plans finalised.  Will you please contact me directly and I can give you further contact information?  You can contact me at:  jhalloranryan@irelandxo.com

All the best,

Jane