Campbell Family in Co. Wexford around 1840

[dlh1]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a family that fled to Liverpool, England in about 1850. I'm looking for a Bridget Campbell (b. 1801) and her children, James (b.1839), Patrick (b. 1828),  Mary (b.1835), Bridget (b. 1843).

All I know is they were born in county Wexford. Is there a way of searching for their baptisms online? Also, how many churches are there in county Wexford? I'm thinking of making a trip to try and search for their records of nobody can help me. I'm willing to pay someone a fee to help me search for their baptisms if possible.

Many thanks,

Dan

[shanew147]

you didnt mention the religion of your Campbell family, which you will need to establish before starting a search of parish records. Unfortunately Co. Wexford records are not included in any of online pay or free sites at the moment. I believe the Irish Family History Foundation (www.rootsireland.ie) are currently working on records, but not sure what their timescale is or which parishes they hope to cover

You can see the number of RC parishes in the county on the Irish Times website -  RC Parishes Co Wexford (click on each parish to show the dates covered  for each parish, and where records are available)

see : Introduction to Irish Records


Shane

[dlh1]

Many thanks for your quick reply.

I do believe the family were Roman Catholic (but can't 100% confirm this).

What do you believe should be my way forward to finding these baptisms. Should I make the trip to Ireland and search through every church baptism record until I find them? Or would this be a waste of time?

[shanew147]

......
I do believe the family were Roman Catholic (but can't 100% confirm this).
...
Should I make the trip to Ireland and search through every church baptism record until I find them? Or would this be a waste of time?

that would be quite a big job.... each parish (see the map) is a separate microfilm in the National Library - sometimes more than one per parish.

The other complication is that not all RC parishes have records going back to the 1820s or earlier, so you could possibly be looking for records that dont exist.

Have you followed all the English census records to see if any of the family ever give a more detailed location other than just the county for their place of birth ?

see :  My Ancestor came from Ireland - where do I start?   


Shane

[dlh1]

Hi. Yeah I've checked all the English censuses and they all say county Wexford and nothing more It's a shame nothing has been put online. If I could just find one of the children I could then assume the rest were from that area of Wexford. I'm really confused as what to do. Is it worth hiring someone to go and look for me? I wonder how many microfilms I would need to be looking at? A lot I imagine. It would be worth it in the end though.

[shanew147]

at a quick count there are about 45 RC parishes in Co. Wexford... so at least that number of Films. Quite time consuming to search..

I think keeping an eye out for Co. Wexford updates on IrishRoots or other websites might be the best way, as it would be much easier to search online.


Shane

[shanew147]

It's probably slightly later than the timeframe for your Campbell family, but Griffith's Valuation (1853 for most of Wexford) only shows a small number of Campbell households.  Griffith's was a land taxation survey, and just shows head of household.

  Campbell, Co. Wexford - Griffth's

One of those entries could be related to your Campbell's if some extended family remained in Ireland..

p.s. do you know Bridget's husbands name ? (e.g. from a marriage cert for one of the children)


Shane

[dlh1]

I believe Bridget's husbands name was Charles. I don't think he came over to England, and I am assuming he may have died as Bridget is classed as a widow.

Thanks for the Griffith's valuation.

I knew there wouldn't be many Campbells in Wexford. So it may be difficult searching for Campbells but once I find the names at least I won't have hundreds of James Campbells all born in Wexford around 1839.