Contacting local parish re burial records?

[Lissyjane]

I have posted on here before about finding the the death date for my great grandfather  (Bernard Naan 1868) from Alnaponer, Brookborough, county Fermanagh. It's driving me nuts. So far nothing on ancestry, or the Irish GRONI website. Various name and surname spellings searched etc, tried searching his second wife also. I did find some marriage documentation today for his first daughter Mary in 1941 on the Irish genealogy website. Her husband's father was listed as deceased but Bernard Naan was not. So I'm assuming he was alive in 1941?

I resorted to using chat GPT for some advice on the matter today! It said that it wasn't unusual for someone to disappear from records, especially landless labourers in rural Ireland and if the burial was informal with no headstone for example. It did say to reach out to local parishes and ask if they have any burial records or mass records for him.

Not sure how true any of this is, but I have the contact details of 2 potential parishes. Surely though a death after 1941 there would be some record of it online?? Especially on the Irish GRONI website.

I'm just curious if anyone has had any success contacting a parish directly for information when all else has failed?

[aghadowey]

Firstly, you can't assume Mary's father wasn't dead if he's not listed as deceased on the marriage certificate. It may be that the officiant never asked her or it just wasn't written down.
Secondly, by 1941 and certainly quite a bit earlier I would expect only a very, very, very small percentage of deaths to go unregistered.
Next, the vital records (births, marriages, deaths) on Irish Genealogy only go up to 1921 for Northern Ireland counties. After that date you need to look in GRONI's database (deaths 50 years old and older will be listed in the online database).
Lastly, you haven't mentioned here what denomination Bernard Naan and his family would have been but it was usually only the Church of Ireland that kept a burial register. Even today not all churches keep such records. Also, bear in mind that few clergy respond to requests for information- they are usually from outside the area and don't have time to do research as many cover more than one congregation.

[Lissyjane]

Thanks for getting back to me with that information. Bernard Naan was catholic. I did look on the GRONI database and nothing comes up. I did search for earlier possible deaths (post 1921) when his second marriage occurred but still nothing.

[Wexflyer]

On the 1911 census Bernard's surname is transcribed as "Noan" (though the original may say Naan).
https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Fermanagh/Grogey/Altnaponer/522582/

The return has an annotation saying he was enumerated twice.

Also I would not agree with the previous comment that non-registrations were very very rare by the 1940s - though my experience is confined to a different area.

[Wexflyer]

Second return for Bernard  in 1911 census, this time transcribed as "Nann".

https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Fermanagh/Carnmore/Doon___Esheleagh/513473/


Conclusion - as Bernard's surname is not transcribed as "Naan" on either 1911 census return, I think there is a strong possibility that his name may also have been distorted in any death registration index.

[dublin1850]

5th November 1945. He is down as Brian Nann.
PM me an email address if you want the entry.
Many 'Bernards' in Ireland are known as Brian.

[Lissyjane]

Success, I finally have it!

You were all correct it was under a different name. 'Brian Nann'.
Special thanks to "dublin1850" for sending that over to me.

 

[Kiltaglassan]

GRONI Online
https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk/

D/1945/156/1019/13/419   Brian   Nann       5th November 1945   77   Male       Lisnaskea