Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Upcoming Talks

I have two talks coming up next week, details of which you can find below.

This is part of the lunchtime series at the National Library of Ireland. It starts at 1pm and is free to attend with no booking required.

I will be giving this talk at the Emigration and our Galway County Diaspora conference. There is an excellent lineup across the day and my talk is at 3:45pm. The conference is in Clarinbridge and is free to attend.


Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Toronto Catholic Parish Registers

The first three Catholic parishes founded in Toronto were St. Paul in 1822, St. Michael in 1845, and St Mary, seven years later in 1852. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was granted access to the Archdiocese of Toronto archives some years ago and microfilmed the registers of various parishes, including the first three, up to 1910.[1] This microfilming program has been converted into the browse only database Ontario, Roman Catholic Church Records, 1760-1923 on Familysearch. After selecting the database, navigate to → York→ Toronto. This will bring you a list of digitized parish registers.

It is worth the effort to consult these registers as Irish parish and county of origin information it often provided for marriages beginning about 1850. Failing that, many marriage register entries provide the parents' names for marrying parties.

Parish
Baptisms scanned starting
Marriages scanned starting
St. Paul
1833
1833
St. Michael
St. Mary
1858
Not scanned

In 1850, Neil Mallen from Dickmancreven [sic - probably Tickmacrevan] Parish, County Antrim married Margaret Brian from the parish of Hackettstown [sic], County Wicklow in St. Paul's parish. Both of their parents are named in the register entry.[2] An example from St Mary's parish shows John Cleary from County Clare married Catherine Cawley from County Tipperary in 1862. Again, both sets of parents are named.[3] Similar information is found in the entry directly after John and Catherine's.

1850 marriage of Neil Mallen and Margaret Brian - click to enlarge

1862 marriage of John Cleary and Catherine Cawley - click to enlarge

Toronto is a central location for those who may have intended to travel into the rural areas of Ontario, New York State, or the American mid-west. Equally, those Irish immigrants may have stated in the city. If you have been unable to find marriage or baptismal records for your ancestors who ended up in those regions then don't discount the Toronto Roman Catholic registers.

Access these three parish registers and those from many other parishes in Ontario here.


[1] Wicks, Linda and Marc Lerman. The Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto. Archivaria. Volume 30, Summer 1990, pp.180-184. Available online at
https://www.archtoronto.org/archives/Resource%20Library/archivaria_ARCAT1990.pdf: accessed 28 May 2016.
[2] St. Paul's Roman Catholic Parish, (Toronto, Canada); Baptisms, marriages, burials 1834-1850; p. 459, no. 42; Neil Mallen married Margaret Brian 29 June 1850; digital image, "Ontario, Roman Catholic Church Records, 1760-1923," Familysearch  (http://www.familysearch.org): accessed 20 August 2016.
[3] St. Mary's Roman Catholic Parish, (Toronto, Canada); Marriage Register 1858 to 1896; John Cleary married Catherine Cawley 7 January 1862; digital image, "Ontario, Roman Catholic Church Records, 1760-1923," Familysearch  (http://www.familysearch.org): accessed 20 August 2016.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Friends Of Irish Research

The Friends of Irish Research (FIR) is a genealogy society based in Brockton, Massachusetts. The organization was based at the Irish Cultural Center (ICC) in Canton for a number of years before moving to their current residence at 900 North Main Street in Brockton. FIR meets often with get togethers held almost every Friday evening for two hours at their Brockton location, beginning at 7:30pm. Anyone is welcome to drop by for a genealogy consultation during that time, once they make an appointment via email
(friendsofirishresearch@gmail.com). On the third Friday of each month they return to their spiritual home at the ICC Library in Canton to meet.


Like all good local genealogy societies they are utilizing one of their strengths by creating records from local resources. Old St. Mary's is the oldest Roman Catholic cemetery in Canton and FIR have created a database of burial information.

Next month they will be hosting their latest School of Irish Genealogy on Saturday the 10th. Running from 1-4pm, the afternoon will focus on free online research tools and DNA. Previous editions of this venture have focused on a wide variety of topics for which there are handouts and videos available . There is also a considerable range of articles available to read, focusing on areas such as research in Newfoundland, Cape Breton (Nova Scotia), and beyond.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Online U.S. Catholic Parish Registers 2016 List

One year ago I compiled a list of Roman Catholic parish registers that are available online. As I outlined at the time it was, sadly, a short list. However, it was well received so I'm back with an updated list for 2016. Most of the updates for this year come from the Drouin Collection, along with a couple from the Internet Archive website. New additions are in bold in the table.

Another access method for Roman Catholic parish registers that is sometimes not considered is microfilms from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Eventually, all of their microfilms will be on Familysearch.org, but until that point is reached they remain a great way to access these records. For example, see the list of registers for 12,000 (yes, 12,000) parishes around the world.

Access and Format Key
S - Scanned
I - Indexed
NI - Not Indexed
T - Transcriptions

* Search for: "Burial register, St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery, Woodland, Yolo Co., California"
** Search for: " St. Mary's Catholic Church, 1915-1985, of Littleton Colorado"
*** Records are contained within the database New Jersey, Births and Christenings, 1660-1980
**** Search for: "Register of St. Michael Catholic Church, Daviess County, Indiana"

State
Diocese
Region/Parishes Covered
Years
Access & Format
Alabama
Archdiocese of Mobile
Mobile
1704-1764
Arkansas
Archdiocese of Mobile
Fort St.Philippe
1744, 1761-1765
California
Sacremento
St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery, Woodland, Yolo County
1883-1939
Colorado
Archdiocese of Denver
St Mary's Catholic Parish, Littleton
1915-1985
Delaware
Wilmington
Delaware and Eastern Shore Maryland on Delmarva Peninsula
1795-1925
Lalley.com (S/NI)
Illinois
Archdiocese of Chicago
City of Chicago and surrounding area
1833-1925
Illinois
Belleville
South East Ohio / County map of parishes
1729-1956
Familysearch (S/NI)
Illinois

Kaskaskia (Caskakias), Prairie du Rocher,
Fort de Chartres
1695-1813, 1761-1799,
1721-1765
Indiana

Vincennes
1741-1786
Indiana
Rockford
St. Michael's Parish, Daviess County
1887-1916
Indiana
Rockford
St. Michael's Parish, Daviess County
1887-1916
Lousiana

St. Gabriel
1753-1759
Maine

Frenchville
Van Buren
1843-1943
1838-1900
Maryland
Wilmington
Delaware and Eastern Shore Maryland on Delmarva Peninsula
1795-1925
Lalley.com (S/NI)
Michigan

St. Anne, Detroit
Various others, Detroit
St. Anne, Mackinac (Makinac) County
Fort Français, Berrien County
1704-1943
1754-1784
1695-1828

1720-1733
Missouri

St. Ferdinand, Florissant
Old Cathedral, St. Louis
1790-1954
1766-1954
Missouri

St. Peter's Parish, Kirkwood
1838-1851
New Jersey
Archdiocese of Newark
St. Peter's Parish, Belville
Immaculate Conception Parish, Montclair
1839-1899
NYC Nuts (T/I)
New Jersey
Archdiocese of Newark
Various Parishes
19th Century
Familysearch (T/I)***
New York
Brooklyn
Our Lady of Sorrow Parish, Bushwick
St. Leonards of Port Maurice, Bushwick
Most Holy Trinity, Williamsburg
1842-1978
New York
Brooklyn
1837-1900
Ancestry: here & here (T/I)
New York

Brasher Falls
St. Joseph, Cooperville
Chazy
Fort Covington
Fort Frederick, Albany
Hogansburg
Malone
Massena
1843-1946
1843-1948
1902-1907
1843-1946
1732-1760
1843-1946
1843-1946
1843-1946
Ohio
Toledo
North west Ohio
1796-2004
Familysearch (S/NI)
Ancestry (S/NI)
Pennsylvania
Archdiocese
of Philadelphia
Philadelphia and south east Pennsylvania
18th & 19th Century
Pennsylvania

Fort Duquesne, Pittsburgh
1754-1756
Wisconsin

St. Francis Xavier, Green By
Prairie-du-Chien
1823-1826

1829