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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Louth => Topic started by: BethW on Wednesday 16 April 08 14:51 BST (UK)
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Hi everyone,
It is only two weeks until a long-awaited trip to Ireland and I find that I have a last minute request for some guidance. I just received an email from Saint Peter's (Roman Catholic) Church that there is no record of my great-grandparents' marriage there.
Here's my question. I had done some research in a microfilm and found a record of a marriage during the second quarter of 1878 in Drogheda for them. (I hope to be able to request a copy of this
at the GRO during my visit.) I had always had the impression that my great-grandmother came from someplace other than Drogheda, (see an earlier post about them in December, Ruddy-Conlan) and so the marriage in Drogheda made me ponder a little.
If the marriage was not at Saint Peter's, (and I am making an assumption here that there was a marriage in a Roman Catholic church because there is a baptism recorded at Saint Peter's for my grandfather in 1886) where might a marriage have taken place ? If the civil marriage took place in Drogheda, am I safe to assume that they both lived there at that time ?
Thanks for any ideas that you might have. I had hoped to be able to research my great-grandmother while in Ireland, but I have lost hope for finding a place of birth. Any thoughts are welcome !
Beth
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Welcome to Rootschat and hope that you will enjoy your trip to Ireland.
Marriages usually but not always took place in bride's church but Registry Office marriages were also very common years ago.
The marriage "during the second quarter of 1878 in Drogheda" took place in the Drogheda Registration district which might have covered more than one Catholic church. It could also refer to a Registry Office marriage.
The actual marriage certificate will give the residence of the bride and groom at the time of the marriage which may or may not be where they were born or even where their parents were living. Also, fathers' names and occupations should be listed but the certificate will not show mothers' names.
Since civil registration of births only started in 1864 there will be no birth certificates for the bride and groom and this means that you would have to try and find church records (if they still exist) for their baptisms.
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Hi - I know your message is from some time ago but I was wondering was there any other issues regarding the recording of marriages in Drogheda in and around 1878.My great-grandmother was supposed to have married her second husband around then and according to his will was his legal wife.There is also a reference I have from a newspaper which says the name of a particular clergyman who convinced them to marry each other.However I can't find a civil record of the marriage and there seems to be no church record either.They were both Drogheda people. Are there instances where marriages did not get recorded anywhere? Thanks
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Beth was looking for a marriage not recorded in a particular church but since she never replied it's unclear if she eventually found that particular marriage. Certainly by the late 1870s one would expect to find a civil record of marriages. Perhaps if you give us the names of bride and groom we might be able to find them in the index.
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RE;Here's my question. I had done some research in a microfilm...What microfilm??
If, for example, it was a Registration of Marriages then it would be where they went to Civil Register their Marriage at wherever they got married. It is only a Public office. My son was born Clogherhead which is over 10 miles from Drogheda but I had to go to this office in Drogheda to register his birth! BUT if I ever need to get a copy of this certificate I was told I'd have to go to Dundalk as that is the County Office where the register for that year would be sent.
If you go to http://www.louthcoco.ie/en/Services/Archives/Genealogy/ at the bottom of the page you will see,,, Louth County Archives does not hold census records; nor births, deaths and marriage records.For these records, please contact the Genealogical Service of Louth County Library at: .. with email address where you can ask them what area would be covered within the Reg district.
I had done some research in a microfilm is too vague.... so I'm presuming it is a Register!
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HI everyone,
Since I received the notification about these posts, I realized that I had never written back to report my findings in Ireland. I'm so sorry that I didn't post a response.
I did find the marriage record for 1878 in the GRO, which noted that the marriage took place in the Roman Catholic chapel at Tullyallen and that my great-grandmother was from Newtownstalaban. I visited both places and also went to the Louth County Library, where I received some great help and was able to find her baptism. This gave me the names of both of her parents and her place of birth. I'm still researching, but this was a huge help to me.
I really enjoyed my visit in Ireland and was able to spend some time in County Louth. I hope to return again one day !
Thanks again for your help and my apologies for the (very) late response.
Beth
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Nice to hear that you did get the information you were looking for and that you had a good holiday in Ireland :)
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Thanks for replying aghadowey .I have looked everywhere I can think of.I first looked for the marriage online, then in the research room in the GRO in Dublin, then I asked the diocese. No record for Drogheda or anywhere else.It is said that they had 5 kids together before they "married" and one last child before he died in 1878.It is not looking like they married at all unless i am missing something!It is an interesting story because she married again for the third time few years later giving her second husband's name as her surname.The records for the first and third marriages are all there.The third one didn't last though because she ran away from him and went back to the second husband's name!!!
Was it the clergyman's job to register weddings? Did both parties sign the register in the church in those days? Thanks
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Certainly by the late 1870s one would expect to find a civil record of marriages. Perhaps if you give us the names of bride and groom we might be able to find them in the index.
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Names Mary (Josephine) Rooney (nee Sarsfield) and Nicholas Flinn.I have all the records of their children (Skerries, Drogheda, Collon) and both of their deaths just not any marriage which was supposed to have happened between 1875 and 1878.Thanks
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I have a similar issue, I can't find the GRO for a marriage at St Mary's Drogheda. 15 May 1878 between William Floody and Eleanor Atkinson.