Sligo Ancestry

Hi Pat,

Thank you very much for your message. You search for information on Bridget will be much easier if you know a specific place of origin in C. Sligo. 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 at all? This can include wills, marriage/death records,census records, letters, diary entries etc.

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

Have you tried looking into her 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. For information on US immigration records check http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/

Have you checked Griffith?s Valuation? This is a property valuation survey that was carried out in Ireland 1848-64. It doesn?t give any genealogical information but can sometimes be used to tie a person to a specific place. I did a search for John Gilligan in Sligo and the following came back:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&Submit.x=21&Submit.y=16&Submit=Submit&familyname=gilligan&firstname=John&countyname=SLIGO

Do you know if Bridget had any brothers or sisters? I found a record for a John and Mary Gilligan in the 1901 census records. A son called John, age 22, is also listed.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Sligo/Toberpatrick_East/Ballinphull/1678861/

If you know of other siblings, and if any of them were born after 1864 you should be able to find record of them in civil records.  Civil records are available from the General Register?s Office in Dublin. Here is their website:

http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm

You can search the indexes to these records online at:

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347

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

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

Irish Gen Projects: http://www.igp-web.com/sligo/index.htm

I hope some of these links are helpful and that they help you establish a parish of origin. Once you have this other avenues of research will open up to you.

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