Seeking Marriage of Michael Kearney to Mary Spellman, c1855

Hi,

Thank you for your message.

Civil registration was first introduced in Ireland in 1845, however only marriages that were non-Catholic were recorded. If Michael and Mary were not Catholics you may be able to find a civil record of their marriage. These records are available from the GRO, here is their website: http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm

Unfortunately, the civil registration process did not begin for ALL marriages/births/deaths until 1864. This means that if they were Catholic their marriage would only have been recorded by a parish church so you really do need to know where they got married in order to look at the relevant records.

There are some places where you can search online, however these 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.

You could try looking for their parents? in Griffith?s Valuation. This is a property valuation survey that was carried out in 1848-64. It doesn?t give any genealogical information but can sometimes be used to tie a person to a specific place. If you could narrow down a place of origin for the couple it would make your search much easier. Especially Mary?s place of origin as generally (although not always) Catholic marriages took place in the bride?s parish of birth. 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/

Have you tried looking into the couples 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 Public Record Office of Victoria has good online databases of settlers at www.prov.vic.gov.au

Some other websites that you may find useful 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

Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/index.htm

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

From Ireland: http://www.from-ireland.net/county-limerick-genealogy/

Limerick Library: www.limerickcity.ie/Library/LocalStudies/

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

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

Thank you for your time. I have looked through some of the sites but as you know it is never over - mysteries remain. Both would have been Catholic limiting the options. Cheers Ct Yank.

There is a marriage record for a Michael Kearney and a Mary Spellman in 1855 in the Roman Catholic Parish of Doon in Co Limerick available at the IFHF (rootsireland.ie) site.  I know this because you can search for FREE on this site.  Here's a tutorial of mine that shows you how to make the most of your searches on this site so that you can make fairly educated guesses about which records may pertain to your family (so you don't drop a lot of money looking at the WRONG records!)  It would appear that the parents names are not on this 1855 marriage record from the searches I did, so I can't tell you this is your record absolutely for sure (you would have to purchase the record to ascertain this).  

There is also a baptism record for a Mary Spelman (note spelling!) born to a Patrick Spelman and a Bridget Kelly in 1830 in the Roman Catholic Parish of Doon.  This would be about the right time period for your Mary Spellman.  There also appear to be 3 possible siblings of Mary Spelman:  Cornelius born 1828, William born 1832, and Patrick born 1835.  

Hope this helps!

Kathy

Thanks Kathy - I will look into these records.

Karen