ANSWERED: Availability of Kerry RC records

[Starbrite13613]

I've recently found index listings for three of my County Kerry ancestors. While I was searching around for a church to send to for more information, I saw that you cannot access Kerry parish information without prior approval from the Bishop of Kerry.

After reading this information, I have a few questions:

Is it true that you need approval from the Bishop for records that are over 100 years old?

If it is true, how would one go about getting that approval?

Once you have that approval, is it something that can be done through postal mail?  Online?

Also, before I spend time trying to get approval, etc., can anyone tell me:

In the States, if you mail a donation to a RC church with the name of the person and one identifying date, they will send you a certificate with all known information about that person, i.e. Baptism, Communion, Confirmation, marriage, death.  Do Irish RC churches do the same thing?  Or is it only the same information you see in the online index at Irishgenealogy.ie?

Thanks in advance for any help!

--Starbrite

[shanew147]

Most historic RC and CofI Parish records  for Co. Kerry are available as full transcripts and images free of charge on www.irishgenealogy.ie  These are the full contents of the registers. Historic RC registers dont usually include records of death/burial.



Shane

[Starbrite13613]

Shane,

Thanks for your message!  I appreciate it!

So, if I'm understanding correctly, there is no benefit to trying to get actual certificates from the church, it will only have the same information that I see on Irishgenealogy.ie. is that right?

Thank you again!  I hope you have a happy holiday!

--Helen

[shanew147]

The details available on the IrishGenealogy website are from the original parish registers - so the details are the primary records for these marriages and baptism.

In most cases the full details have been transcribed but if a register image is available it's always worth double checking this, as there can on occasionally be additional notes, and there are sometimes problems transcribing the details - in which case you can have a second chance to examine the handwriting.


Shane

[Starbrite13613]

Thanks again, Shane. I appreciate it very much.

Unfortunately, the three certificates I am interested in we're not digitized, so I'm out of luck. How I wish they had been!

This is a great site!  I wish I'd known about it when I started twelve years ago. I found out more information in just five minutes from leads here than any other genealogy site I've tried. Including ancestry.com!

Hope you're having a great holiday!

--Helen