Re: Looking for McGowan family from Ballymote, County Sligo, Ireland
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In reply to:
Looking for McGowan family from Ballymote, County Sligo, Ireland
Virginia Knipper 12/05/08
I searched the Irish Family History Foundation's database. It contains 12,000,000 surviving rcds for abt 65% of Irish counties. Rcds are increasingly sparse B4 1840, rare B4 1800.
Note 1 - Without a KNOWN parish, the chance of an ancestor's rcds NOT being in this database is AT LEAST 35%.
Note 2 - Only 1/2 of Co. Cork's rcds are in this database.
Note 3 - The RC church kept control over most parish rcds from Tipperary (north). These are ONLY available thru the Tipperary Family History Research center at a substantial fee (regardless of outcome).
For John McGowan B 1884 (exact) in Sligo with a father's name unknown, I found 3 B rcds. One of these MAY be for your ancestor. Rcd keeping by this data was civil and comprehensive.
For Mary Kilty (exact) B 1890 +/- 1 yr in all Ireland, I found 2 B rcds in Co: 1891 and 1892 Cork, nothing in Sligo. One of these MAY be for your ancestor.
For John McGowan M 1912 +/- 4 yrs, I found 30 M rcds: none in either Sligo or Cork.
For Mary Kilty M ditto, I found 4 M rcds. The only possible match to those for John is one in Co. Antrim.
Since B/M/D registration was civil and comprehensive after 1863, I suggest you contact the General Register Office at http://www.groireland.iehttp://www.groireland.ie for copies of their marriage cert. Fees apply. This way you could be reasonably certain the info is correct. The info SHOULD include the parents' of both marriage partners, residence, etc.
Google the Foundation's name to lead you to this database. Register, opt to be notified as rcds are added and browse. Pls post your search results to my genforum msg.
Hope this helps. Good luck.