I am new at this...am not sure where to begin

Hi Martha,

Thank you very much for your message.

Banbridge is a town in the parish of Seapatrick, Co. Down:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/townlands/index.cfm?fuseaction=TownlandsInCivil&civilparishid=858&civilparish=Seapatrick&citycounty=Down

Have you tried looking in church records for information? Civil registration only became mandatory in Ireland in 1864. Prior to this all births, deaths and marriages were recorded by the local parish church. Unfortunately, sometimes the reality of finding documentation pertaining to births/baptisms/marriages/deaths in Ireland prior to 1800 ? particularly in rural areas ? is that they simply may not exist, so it may be difficult to find Susan?s birth or marriage record.

Do you know what religion she was? Catholic records for Seapatrick do not start until 1843:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Down&parish=Seapatrick&churchid=456

However, Church of Ireland records generally tend to have an earlier start date as it was the official church in the country at the time, so you may be lucky and find something if she was Church of Ireland. 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, you should take a look at this great website that I have come across concerning genealogy links for Banbridge:

http://countydown.x10.mx/html/banbridge.htm

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

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

Genealogy links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/down/index.html

Family Search: www.familysearch.org

Down Genealogy: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rosdavies/

Alternatively, you could try contacting the Ulster Historical Foundation for assistance. However a fee may apply. Here is their email: enquiry@uhf.org.uk

I hope that some of these links are useful and that you are able to find some information before your visit in 2014! Our organisation is continually growing so hopefully we will have some volunteers organised in the area by the time you visit.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support