I have recently found a probably sister to my great grandfather, Terence Doyle, who only ever gave his birthplace as Ireland. The family was Catholic. Mary Doyle was born about 1850 in Swinford, Co. Mayo. Her father was James Doyle, a farmer. She married James Cain in Chester, Cheshire, England in 1879 and their only son James Cain was born about 1885 in Swinford, Co. Mayo. The family were living in Chester in 1881, 1891 and 1901. They were godparents to some of my great aunts, went to the same church and Terence was a witness at Mary Doyle's marriage. Both give their deceased father's name as James Doyle and his occupation as farmer at their marriages. Terence's mother was Ann Doyle and she died in 1885 in Chester.
There are three first steps I need to complete -
# I need the baptism of James Cain bc.1885 in Swinford.
# I need the baptism of Mary Doyle bc.1850 in Swinford.
# I need to know whether there was a Terence Doyle baptised in Swinford between 1855 and 1860. His age varies a little from census to censu. His mother was born between 1813 - 1818.
By 1871 Ann, a widow, and Terence were living in Chester, while Mary was in service elsewhere in Cheshire, so James had already died.
If you can help unravel my connections to Swinford I would be eternally grateful - it's taken me forty years to get this far!
Thanks, Natalia McKenzie
Saturday 2nd Mar 2013, 03:21PM
Message Board Replies
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Hi Natalia,
Thank you for your message. You have obviously put a lot of time and effort into your family history!
You don?t mention what religious denomination the family were..
Most Catholic records are held locally so you may need to write to the local parish priest for possible assistance. One website that you may find useful is the Irish Times where they give an overview of what records are available in specific parishes. For Swineford Roman Catholic parish, follow this link:
For information on Church of Ireland records check:
http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/.
www.familysearch.org also have some Irish birth records available online
www.rootsireland.ie have a huge collection of Irish Church records available, however you have to pay to use this website.
You could also try contacting South Mayo Family Research for assistance, as they may have copies of church records available. However there may be a fee.: soumayo@iol.ie
Civil registration became mandatory in Ireland in 1864 so you may also be able to find James? birth record in these records also. 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
For more information go to:
http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-civil-registration.html
I hope that this is helpful! Best of luck with the rest of your research.
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
Monday 29th Apr 2013, 11:36AM -
Thanks Emma,
I've got a researcher who will look into it for me as things have turned totally chaotic here - I have an elderly mother in the final phases of terminal cancer so I spend most of my time in a car driving between my home and the hospital she's in two and a half hours away!
Wednesday 1st May 2013, 11:49PM