Being blocked from doing your own Irish research and forced to pay a researcher?

[Marcella Paget]

You're all so helpful! I'm being dragged off to see a movie right now, but will take up your suggestion this afternoon (Australian Eastern Standard Summer Time)
 

[corisande]

I dont believe you will find that many CofI parish records in the  the National Archives. They do have a few, but most are held in the Representative Church Body Library in Rathfarnham 

I have found the Nat Archives very good for C of I Parish records, and have spent a lot of time there examining them. I have been to Rathfarnham too.

In my opinion you are better off going to Nat Archives first, before attacking the place in Rathfarnham (Rathfarnham were not that helpful when I went there, and if you are a visitor to Dublin it is out of the way)

What you can do is check with Nat Archives what are available - the list should be online. See how many of the parishes you are interested in are there, then email Rathfarnham with specific questions on the missing ones to see if they have them. Or you can do it the easy way and let Shane come up with the answer 

I stand to be corrected, but I thought Nat Archives had on microfiche exactly the same as Rathfarnham. You could email Rathfarnham with that as a question.

It has always struck me as a little bizarre that Catholics and Protestants are separated in death as in life in Ireland, with one set of records in Nat Library and the other in Nat Archives. Anyway make sure you go to the right place for the ones you want. And bureaucracy being what it is, you need a completely different ID for NAI than for NLI. Take you that you do need to go through the hoops of getting ID in both places when you arrive, and it can take some time (once you have it , then it is good for years)

[shanew147]

It looks like many of the CofI registers were filmed and are available in the National Archives - never knew that, I'd always gone straight to the RCB Library for CofI records. At one stage there were several parishes I checked where only NAI had copies, not the RCBL, but they have acquired further records from the parishes over the years.

see : http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy/church.html

and a list of films (pdf document) : http://www.nationalarchives.ie/PDF/CofIMicrofilms.pdf

I've had a quick look at the list, to see how it compares to the RCB list, but they are not easy to cross-check. The NAI list is by film reference, the RCB list by county and then alphabetical and also includes dates covered.

Many of the records in the RCBL are originals, which might help for difficult to read registers. They also hold additional items, such as Vestry Minute books and various other reference books.


Shane

[corisande]

see how it compares to the RCB list, but they are not easy to cross-check.

 

The other factor is that many of the C of I records are still with the parish (in other words they have not been sent to RCB nor has anyone filmed them), but the parish no longer exists, so you have to track down who holds the records for the group of parishes. Who said genealogy was easy!

The other thing you have to be wary of is transcriptions (if there are versions in both places) and there being a difference between the copy in the parish and the copy in Dublin.

[shanew147]

One point I forgot to mention - the RCBL had a book to help them keep track of the various records. For a north Dublin parish parish which no longer exists, they were able to tell which church now held the records, what dates were available, and provide contact details etc... Not sure if they used this for all the records, but it looked like it could

Apparently some of the parish register copies sent to the PRO were cut down versions of the complete register - besides omissions and mistakes, details for certain prominent families were deliberately left out...


Shane

[Marcella Paget]

OK, I'm accepting that kind offer. I think these are the CofI parishes I'm most interested in with relevant townlands in parentheses:
In Sligo - Kilglass (Kinard)
In Mayo - Kilmoremoy (Ballina); Crossmolina (Knockglass); Kilfian (Fahy)
In Dublin - Donnybrook (Irishtown); St. Mark's (South Lots)

Also, these two Presbyterian churches:
Adelaide Rd. Dublin;
Cavanaleck, Fivemiletown, Fermanagh

Where can I examine the most complete versions of these registers, preferably in Dublin?


 

[Elwyn Soutter]

In case copies of the Presbyterian records are not kept in Dublin, PRONI in Belfast have the following records for Cavanaleck:

P. Cavanaleck Baptisms, 1853-1953; marriages, 1871-1925; session minutes, 1856; marriage notices, 1858 and 1860-83; list of communicants, 1862.   

They don't appear to hold Adelaide Rd's records. It may be necessary to contact the Presbyterian Historical Society to enquire where they are held.

www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com/

[shanew147]

Sligo
  Kilglass - RCBL b1887-, m1845-1856, d1886- / not on NAI list

Mayo
  Kilmoremoy  - RCBL b1769-, 1770-, d1770- / NAI - MFCI 35
  Crossmolina - RCBL b1768-, 1769-, d1768- / NAI - MFCI 32
  Kilfian          - RCBL not listed / NAI MFCI 32

Dublin
  Donnybrook *  - RCBL b1712- , m1712- , d1712- / NAI MFCI 105
  St. Mark's*      - RCBL b1730- , m1730- , d1733- / not on NAI list

The NAI list doesn't give dates covered by their films.
* Records for St. Mark's are included on www.irishgenealogy.ie
* Separate records for Irishtown are included on www.irishgenealogy.ie  bapt. from b1808, marr. from 1824, death/burials from 1824


Shane

[corisande]

The NAI list is in a bit of a mess, I found a fair number not on their index when I was there ! So you could find that Kilgrass was there, try emailing them, or the parish