Seeking Information on GG Grandparents: Walsh & Murphy

Good Afternoon

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out and apologies for the delay in replying to your message. 

As you can see from the link below, Duagh is a Civil Parish in Co. Kerry:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/townlands/index.cfm?fuseaction…

Records for the corresponding Roman Catholic Parish of Duagh (and part of Listowel) begin in 1819 with some gaps in the early 1850s.

There are some places where you can search online, however these websites do not have complete collections and many do not cover the period after 1900:

www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.

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.

I also include a link to Kerry County Library and Archive that you may find useful; http://www.kerrylibrary.ie/local.asp

In order to look at the records for the school where your ancestor taught, you would have to visit the National Archives, Dublin where the Education Series are stored: http://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/Nat_Schools/natschs.html

Some Kerry burials are transcribed here: http://www.kerrylaburials.ie/en/Index.aspx 

Some other websites that may be helpful are:

The National Archives of Ireland: http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/ - you can search the 1901/1911 Census on the National Archives page too

The National Library of Ireland: http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

The National Archives UK ? genealogy search:http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland: http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

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

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

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.

Best of luck with your search

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support

Clare,

Thank you very much for putting this list together. I appreciate the time and effort you put into this response.

I am aware of all those resources and have visited the Archives in Dublin several times. I've also spent time scouring the cemetery in Duagh and written twice to the parish rectory at Duagh; I'll assume my letters were lost in the mail as there has been no reponse to either letter.

There's only so much one can do online  and from a distance of 3000+ miles. When I found this site, I was hoping someone near Duagh would be able to help with my specific request regarding my g-g-granparents, parents of Ellen Walsh, from Trienerragh, Duagh. This is a wall I've hit with my research. I have not been able to find out anything about Ellen's family - her parents or possible siblings. I am intrigued that on her marriage certificate to my g-granfather Michael Lynch, she is listed as a schoolmistress. That seems very progressive for the times.

On the subject of Rathea School records, apparently they were lost in a fire many years ago. The National Archives has almost nothing - a slim file containing repeated applications for a teaching position by someone living across the road from the school. I was fortunate that the principal of the nearby Dromclough National School was able to send me a short history of Rathea School. My g-grandfather Michael Lynch was the first schoolmaster there, appointed back in the early 1870s, so I was able to learn a great deal about him from that document. The history can be found somewhere on the North Kerry Reaching Out website; it was written by Colm Rohan many years ago.

Thanks again for your efforts.