Thomas morrissey from Down

Linda,

Birth registration didn’t start in Ireland till 1864 (for any religious denomination) so you won’t find a birth certificate for Thomas. Prior to 1864 we rely on church baptism records. Not all churches kept records in the early 1800s and even when they did not all have survived. It’s not very likely that Thomas was baptised in a Protestant church if he was Catholic. It’s more likely he was baptised in a Catholic church, but the priest may not have been keeping any records in the 1820s. (That was common).

This map lists all the RC parishes in Co Down. If you click on each one it shows when their records start. For example, Dromore’s start in 1823, but Annaghclone in 1834. That’s fairly typical. There are many with no records for the 1820s.

https://www.johngrenham.com/browse/counties/rcmaps/downrc.php#maps/

What do you know about Thomas’s parents? What was his father’s occupation? I searched for Thomas & Catherine Morrissey deaths in Co Down 1864 (when death registration started) to 1901 but did not find any at all. The names are common enough in other parts of Ireland but not in Co Down. If they lived in Down, they presumably had either died before 1864 or moved away. There was no-one at all named Morrissey living in Co Down in the 1901 census. There were 5 people named Morrissy/Morrissey living in Co Down in Griffiths Valuation c 1860 but they had evidently all gone or died by 1901.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml