Hi,
Thank you very much 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 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 it may be difficult to discern whether the results are relevant to your family or not without more information:
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.
http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/ have begun a project to upload Irish church records to their site free of charge. However so far only Counties Dublin, Kerry, Carlow and parts of Cork have been covered.
Have you tried looking into the family?s 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 checkhttp://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/
Do you know his parents? names? If you do, you could try looking in the land records pertaining to Ireland in the 19th century. These do not offer any genealogical information but can sometimes be used to tie a person to a specific place. There are two:
The Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1838) found athttp://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp
and Griffith?s Valuation (1848-1864) found at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/
Some other websites that may be helpful are:
The National Archives of Irelandhttp://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 Waterford:http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/waterford/index.html
Genealogy links Cork: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/cork/index.html
Alternatively, you could try contacting Waterford Heritage Services, however a fee may apply. Here is their email: mnoc@iol.ie
Remember to post any new information that you find, particularly in relation to parish of origin. The more information you post, the more likely it is that one of ourvolunteers 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
