James Moffitt b 1833

[Fingy]

I have a copy of a church marriage record for James Moffitt & Elizabeth Delaney dated 03/10/1856 in Birr Co Offaley at the Roman Catholic Church.

Husbands & Wifes father & Husbands & Wifes mother are not recorded  but the witness's are Daniel Conners & Honoria Hogan.
The priest is recorded as NR

James Moffitt & Elizabeth Delaney were my husbands Great Great Grandparents & they first came to light with there family in the 1881 Census record for Sheffield living on Hoyle Street.

Their life in Sheffield is fairly well documented but it is their life in Birr that I would like to find out about ,  such as where were they born etc......

If anyone can be of assistance in this matter I would be very grateful.

Best Regards,

Barbara Moffatt ( nee Ray )

[Fingy]

It is two years now since I first put this request on Roots Chat , as I have had no replys I thought I would bring it back to the top of the list to see if there is anybody out there now that can be of any help.

When the family lived in Sheffield, England they were known as Moffatt.

Thanks for looking.

Barbara. 

[shanew147]

'Bumping' threads is not really allowed, but you may add additional details that may help the search.

The next step is to try would be a search parish records for the area(s) James and Elizabeth were born, if these are available.

Did you locate a transcript of the marriage on RootsIreland - were residences given for James & Elizabeth ?

RC parish records for Parsonstown/Birr go back to 1838 - so probably not far enough to locate baptism for James if he was born in the same area they married..

Do any of the English census returns give a detailed place of births for them, or do they all just have King's Co./Offaly ?

see : Introduction to Irish Records
        My Ancestor came from Ireland - where do I start?



Leinster Moderator

[Fingy]

Hello Shanew147 , I do apologise , because I hadn't had a reply in 2 years , I thought there may be new people using the website that may have information for me.

I found the document in my sister in laws papers when she passed away & I thought I would try & continue her work, the english census returns only say " Ireland " & it was through the document that I found out that James & Elizabeth were from Birr, County Offally.

I will read the things that you have told me about & have another try.


Regards , Barbara Moffatt ( nee Ray )

[shanew147]

The dates involved are probably the reason nobody has been able to add anything - just before the start of RC records for the Birr area. Without vital records available to search, you can try other sources, but these will usually be more general and probably only give details of heads of household. So connecting them together with your Moffats and Delaneys with certainty may not be possible. There are a few earlier traces of the Moffat surname the might be worth following up (see below), unfortunately the surname Delany is quite common so without further family or location clues would be likely be difficult to find anything..

The Tithe records show just three entries for the surname Moffat, possibly including two entries for the same person. The Tithes were a form of taxation due to the established church, i.e. Church of Ireland, and generally only cover agricultural land. These particular entries are dated 1827 and 1833. See : Moff*, King's Co.

Slightly later than your James was Griffiths Valuation, including a few Moffat entries in the Birr area - see : Moff*, King's Co.   The valuation was a Land Taxation survey, and the dates for this area are around 1854.



Shane

[Fingy]

Thank you Shane for this info , I will give both links a try, I now know what people meant when I told them I was going to try to find my husbands Irish roots.......they said it was a minefield as a lot of records were lost !

Barbara

[shanew147]

It's not so much that anything was lost in this case, its just that the starting dates for written RC records vary from parish to parish. Most probably caused by the after effects of the penal laws than anything else. The average starting date for rural RC records is about 1830. Of course like other old documents, some registers were damaged by water, fires, improper storage etc

The 'lost' records people usually refer to are the church of Ireland records and early census returns damaged in the PRO during the battle of Dublin during the civil war.


S.