Genealogy Chat

This is probably a really silly question, but here goes.... I am looking for my g grandmother's birth certificate. She was born in 1885 (do have exact date from her baptism record which I found a few years ago when I was in Ireland). I know the town in which she was baptised and assumed it's the same one she was born in/registered in. I have searched countless times through the Irish GRO index at the LDS library in London and I can't find anything!! I found her younger brother and one sister (I think), but not her, or her two older sisters. Is there anyway of tracking down where she was born, who registered the birth..... could it not have been registered? If so, wouldn't a fine have incurred? She is down as illegitimate on her marriage entry in the church register and on the baptism but I was hoping perhaps the birth certificate might give some other clues. Any suggestions? Chloe

Chloe Like the LDS for the UK not all the births are on there so do not assume there was no birth. Your best solution is to first of all try to obtain the certificate through either Belfast if it is N Ireland or Dublin if S Ireland. You have the exact date of birth, so you should get it if it had been issued. Addresses for these sites will be on the front page of the Genes Connect Site under the Irish section. If Belfast or Dublin are unable to help, then you may have to accept the birth was not registered. Remember that Ireland back in the 1880's was a very poor country and when children were born, faced with a very long walk to the nearest town to register the birth, when maybe the mother was ill with many children already in tow, then the last thing that would be thought of would have been to register the birth. What all Irish people did back then was to make sure that their children were baptised. That was a very important thing to do and it was always done within days of a birth. Illegitamacy, the same as the UK was well and truly swept under the carpet. You seem to know which church she is baptised. You can try to write to the parish priest for information, sending a donation but they are busy people and do not always reply to family History Queries. I have the found the best way is a holiday in Ireland, visiting the area of your ancestors and then going to the church to ask and see the registers. Sometimes even then they may not allow you to look, so I find it best to find a B&B that is interested in genealogy, who will do some of the ground work in approaching the parish priest for you first or at least putting in a good word for you! a donation to church funds is always welcome. Janet

Thanks Janet. The index I looked up at the LDS was photocopied on microfilm pages of the different books in each quarter. Does that make sense? Rather like the books in the FRC just on microfilm! I visited there with my mum in 2000. I long to go back because even though I loved genealogy then, I was a terrible teenager, a complete stereotype and ruined the holiday. We looked at the transcribed parish records in Irvinestown (where they lived). We eventually found all but one member of the family living in Irvinestown. Assuming the missing one was working elsewhere. There is also suggestion that they moved to Irvinestown around 1882. Two of the eldest's baptisms are not in the register for their church. But couldn't find them either! No idea where to look there! It's also proving difficult to find my great grandfather's certificate. They were both illegitimate and there is confusion over the name my g grandfather was born with!! Yahoo! As if Ireland wasn't difficult enough to search in! Thanks again Chloe

Chloe Irvinestown is Co Fermanagh N Ireland so it still might be worth writing to Belfast GRO giving them the date you have for the baptism which will be close enough to the birth date. If you were looking at the fiche it should have been there but sometimes things do get left off. Certainly worth a try. Yes Irish records are difficult but don't give up. The only other problem is if the birth was in a country district and the mother went into the town to have the child baptised. You can find out what townlands there are around Irvinestown by googling Irvinestown+Townlands+Ireland to see what might come up. Is there nothing online for this area at all? You could also try Griffiths which is back to the 1860's but may give you a lead as to where the family were. There are patchy Irish records but I have not got much knowledge on N Ireland as all mine are S Ireland. I have just done a google search on this and came up with the following site which may be worth a look. http(://)www(.)fermanagh(.)org(.)uk(/)fermanaghpresents(/)families.htm remove brackets. Good Luck Janet

Thank you Janet. Will give your suggestions a go. Chloe