Re: Irish Parish tHOMAS wILLIAM KEELAN, OR THOMAS EDWARD kEELAN
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In reply to:
Re: Irish Parish tHOMAS wILLIAM KEELAN, OR THOMAS EDWARD kEELAN
Trudy Meredith 5/29/04
Hello Trudy,
Finding a birth record for Thomas Keelan will be impossible as the government of Ireland didn't begin to issue birth, marriage, and death certificate for all religious denominations until the year 1864.
Before 1864 people researching their family history have to rely on church parish records for baptisms and marriage. But to find a baptism of an ancestor, you have to know which town and parish he was born into, and the names of his parents, particularly the mother's maiden name.
Without knowing those facts, the chances of finding a baptism cert would be almost impossible, especially in County Cork, which is the largest county in Ireland.
Any information about Thomas Keelan' birth in Ireland and the names of his parents, will have to come from records in New Zealand or Australia, provided of course, those records exist.
For instance, if Thomas's children were born in the late 1840s, or in the 1850s or 1860s, there might be a birth certificate for them which could tell you where their father came from in Ireland.
If any of his children died in New Zealand, likewise a death cert may specify where in Ireland he was born.
I belong to a subscription website called Ireland of Other Days, which allows subscribers to access a "Surname Report," to see what Irish counties various surnames were most common in.
This report didn't show any Keelans for County Cork, in the 19th century, but shows the name Keelan was mostly found in Counties Meath, Monaghan, Cavan, and Louth.
That surname report is by no means all inclusive, which means it is possible there were Keelans in County Cork when Thomas was born. But what the report does show is that Keelan was not a common name in Cork.
It's also possible that Thomas Keelan was transported from County Cork to Australia or New Zealand back in the 1800s. Many of these convict ships left from Queenstown, in County Cork.
In fact, I did find one entry for a William Keeland who was transported from County Cork in the year 1850 for stealing pigs. In your message to the GenForum you had stated that Thomas may have also gone by the name of William. I suppose it's possible that this William Keeland was your Keelan ancestor, or maybe related to him. It's impossible to say however, if a relationship between your Keelan and the Keelan in the transportation record were related
Please see the entry below which comes from the National Archives of Ireland site at:
http://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/transportation/search01.htmlhttp://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/transportation/search01.html
SURNAME: KEELANOTHER NAMES: WILLIAM
AGE:0 SEX: M ALIAS:
PLACE OF TRIAL: Co. Cork TRIAL DATE: 03/07/1850
PLACE OF IMPRISONMENT:DOCUMENT DATE:
CRIME DESCRIPTION: Stealing pigs
SENTENCE: Transportation 10 yrs
SHIP:
PETITIONER: RELATIONSHIP:
DOCUMENT REFERENCES:TR 10, p 41
MICROFILM REFERENCES:
COMMENTS:
Convict ordered to be discharged, 09/10/1856
________
It appears from the above record that William's sentence was commuted from 10 years down to 5 years. Unfortunately, the record doesn't state the name of his ship or where he was sent for his sentence. He most likely was sent to Australia or perhaps New Zealand for sentencing.
If you ever do find out the names of Thomas's parents, or his place of birth in County Cork, please let me know and I'll be able to proceed with some more online research.
To search for parish registers you first you would have to know what religious denomination he belonged to, and the names of his parents. Then you would have to search each Cork religious church parish in the town or area where he was born to see if you could locate his baptism record.
Altogether, for the whole of County Cork, there are 36 Church of Ireland parishes with church registers back to the 1820s and earlier, while for the Catholic Church in all three geographical areas of County Cork (Cork East, Cork Middle, and County Cork West), there are 256 parishes with registers back to the 1820s and before.
If Thomas was a Roman Catholic you can see how important it would be to find the town in County Cork where he was born, just to narrow down the search to a manageable level.
If Thomas was born in Cork City though, that will present its own genealogical challenges with regard to finding his baptism cert.
In the 19th century there were two Church of Ireland Parishes that have records back to the 1820s and 1830s, while in the Catholic Church there were 5 Parishes with records back to that time period in Cork City.
Please keep me informed about how your search is progressing.
Best Wishes Trudy,
Dave
More Replies:
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Re: Irish Parish tHOMAS wILLIAM KEELAN, OR THOMAS EDWARD kEELAN
Trudy Meredith 6/01/04
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Re: Irish Parish tHOMAS wILLIAM KEELAN, OR THOMAS EDWARD kEELAN
David Boylan 6/01/04
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Re: Irish Parish tHOMAS wILLIAM KEELAN, OR THOMAS EDWARD kEELAN
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Re: Irish Parish tHOMAS wILLIAM KEELAN, OR THOMAS EDWARD kEELAN
Trudy Meredith 5/31/04