Birth Record for James Bolger - how to start?

[kebholes]

I have today recieved the marriage cert for James Bolger to Mary Dixon on 9/11/1875. I am now trying to find James Birth... only problem is On his marriage Cert it states full age and his Residence at time of marriage was Courtown, his Father is John Bolger.

I know he dies before may 1894 as Mary Remarries a Henry Willis.

How do i start with just this small limited information? I tried looking at Griffiths valuation but there are many John Bolger's so this is of no use? I have no idea what years to search for or indeed where? I am aware his marriage was in Chapel of Rathnure but this proves where the wife was from not the husband?

I also know a witness to the wedding is a Charles Bolger [possibly his brother?] as there are many james bolgers who it could be born between 1840 and 1855 [guessing a batchelors age?] based on looking at the LDS site... where do i go from here???
Really at a loss so any ideas or suggestions greatly appriciated, thanks

[shanew147]

since James' birth was before civil registration started (in 1864) you will need to search parish records to find any birth/baptism details on him. Two initial pieces of information are required for this - his religion, and place of birth (parish or townland).

If James was Catholic and was born in Courtown then I believe the Catholic Parish would be Ballygarrett (Civil parish Ardamine) - the records included for baptisms and marriages start around 1828.   (there are missed date noted for these) These records are available in the National Library on microfilm P.4255

.. do you know his James father's occupation ?

At this time there are no Wexford parish records available on-line that I know of, although there may be a few extracts available. The first step might be to try to narrow down his age a little by finding a death cert... although searching for a death with a common name could be difficult. Did James & Mary have any children ? .. this could help narrow down the years for a search.


Shane

[kebholes]

Shane, this is where the problem lies.... i have no idea where he was born or when. Courtown is the place of residence at the time of his marriage, as my family are farm labourers and general labourers at this time they would live where the work is and only marry where the wifes family is from..

They are Catholic btw. The age Mary gives on her second marriage [following the death of james at some point] is 30 in 1894.... obviously this is not the correct age! I believe Mary is born c1851 but its James who i am interested in at this point.

If i looked at all the baptism records for births of James Bolger born between 1840 and 1855 i would still have no way of knowing which one would be correct unless only one has a father called John.... or have i missed something along the way?

Also I am searching for the death of james to see if that provides any answers as to age or place of birth? but as it is early in the records for Ireland i believe based on other death certs i have of this time, that finding which one is him may be difficult if not impossible as there is very little info on the certs [ie no wife or family member signs or indeed is recorded just the deceased name approx age and marital status].

Any Ideas as i think i may of hit the end of the road on my family at such an early start...

[shanew147]

Assuming there is no way to establish where James was born then the only other possible solution that I see, as you've said, is to search for all baptism's of a James in Co. Wexford between those years with a father John ... not a practical idea at the moment since these records are not online. Even if a possible match is found it may be difficult to confirm, as very few older baptism records that I've seen contain father's occupation.

The Irish Family History Foundation (pay-website) holds parish records for some counties, but not Co. Wexford at the moment. It might also be worth keeping an eye on the new (free) IrishGenealogy website as they have recently started adding records for Dublin & Kerry - and are planning to add other data for other counties.. no mention of Co. Wexford yet, but might be on their list later on (since this county is not covered by the IFHF).



Shane

[shanew147]

....Also I am searching for the death of james to see if that provides any answers as to age or place of birth? but as it is early in the records for Ireland i believe based on other death certs i have of this time, that finding which one is him may be difficult if not impossible as there is very little info on the certs [ie no wife or family member signs or indeed is recorded just the deceased name approx age and marital status]....

There can sometimes be some useful information on death certs -

place of death - if he died at home then this could correspond to an address at the time for Mary

informant details - this can be a family member, in which case they state this. e.g. I've seen 'xxx son of deceased,' followed by same address as the place of death


Shane

[kebholes]

Thanks Shane, I have got a number of death certs for James but as yet none of them appear to be for the right person... at least none provide any details of wife! Perhaps it may be a waiting game for some of the Irish records to be made available on line... The Wicklow FH centre is next to useless as the data is limited and only the fathers name is given, although this was how i found my Gt Grandfather so i should not complain!!

Most of the death certs for this period i have recieved are witnessed by nurses or doctors with no mention of family.... I think the details changed around the early 1900's to include family members where possible as witnesses to deaths... I cant find any reference for what was the given instructions to registers on this period.

Thanks for your thoughts and comments though... perhaps in time something may change and i think that the new site that went online last week or so will only be whats in the GRO and not parish records looking at what they have put on for Dublin... but it may improve over time 

[shanew147]

the IrishGenealogy website (http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/) only has parish records, no Civil records (i.e. from the GRO)


Shane