James Curran

Hi Ann,

Thank you for your message. Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find information without a more specific place of origin. Most Irish record sources- church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations. Until you know a specific location within Ireland, preferably a parish or placename, it may be difficult to do anything more with these records.

Do you have any documentation pertaining to the family that mentions any place names in Sligo at all? This can include wills, marriage/death records,census records, letters, diary entries etc.

Have you checked the immigration records in Australia? Generally, more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. The University of Woolongong has produced, on microfiche, a complete index and transcript of all information concerning immigrants of Irish origin recorded on ships' passenger lists between 1848 and 1867 for New South Wales. These are useful for finding out an exact place of origin as well as parents' names. The Public Record Office of Victoria has good online databases of settlers at www.prov.vic.gov.au Otherwise, other records may be found in the Colonial Office Papers of the UK National Archives, class reference CO 201. This class contains a wide variety of records, including petitions for assisted passages, emigrants' lists, records of emigrants on board ship, petitions from settlers for financial assistance and much more.

Have you tried searching for records online? (this websites 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.

Do you know James? parents? names? If you did you could try searching for them in Griffith?s Valuation. This is a property valuation survey that was carried out 1848-64. It doesn?t give any genealogical information but can sometimes be used to tie a person to a specific place. You can search it here:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSearch

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/sligo/index.html

SligoWeb: http://homepage.tinet.ie/~afinan/genealogy.html

Historicgraves: http://historicgraves.com/

Alternatively, you could contact Sligo Heritage and Genealogy Centre, however a fee may apply. Here is their email: heritagesligo@eircom.net

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