Baptism William Flynn - St Mary's Roman Catholic Parish, Boherbue, County Cork,

[johnreese1]

Hello,

My name is John Reese.  I am doing some family research on my great great grandfather, William Flynn.  William was born in Ireland on the 1 May 1832.  His parents were Brian Flynn and Ellen Sullivan.  My father said the family came from County Cork.  I found an entry the other day for an Elizabeth Flynn baptized at the St Mary's Roman Catholic Parish, Boherbue, County Cork, Ireland.  She was born/baptized on the 2nd of January 1835 at St Mary's roman Catholic Parish in Boherbue.  This record was extracted from St Mary's Parish out of a volume of books found in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.*  This extraction started in 1833 about one year after my 2nd great grandfather was born.  I am trying to find out if the parish records exist before 1833.  If so, would it be possible to have someone look at the 1832 register for William Flynn born 1 May 1832. If those record do not exist, where did a family from Boherbue take their child to get baptized. 

*""Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VRSN-65V : 8 December 2014), Brian Flynn in entry for Elizabeth Flynn, ; citing ROMAN CATHOLIC,BOHERBUE,CORK,IRELAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 941.5 D2C V. 11, 941.5 D2C V. 2."

[Sinann]

Welcome to RootsChat
Boherbue Parish records are free to view here
http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0021
The parish is also searchable by name here
https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/
although in County Cork it comes under the Diocese of Kerry

There doesn't appear to be any surviving records before 1833
https://www.johngrenham.com/records/rc_church.php?churchid=0021&parish=Boherbue

[johnreese1]

Thank you.  Is it that the records prior to 1833 do not exist or was the parish operating before then?  What would be the next step to verifying that my Wm son of Brian Flynn and Ellen Sullivan is the same as the couple who baptized Elizabeth?

[Sinann]

You will see on the NLI wedsite the other name for the parish is Kilmeen.
This is a page from the Boherbue Website which gives a simple history of the parish.
http://www.boherbue.com/kilmeen.html
The earliest date it gives is the name of a Parish Priest from 1500.

I assume as you have his parents names that William didn't marry in Ireland, so there won't be a record of him in the parish.
Unless there is a way to connect Elizabeth and William. Could she or any of her children have stayed with him at some point. Of course you would need to find out who she married, assuming she did marry but there doesn't seem to be a marriage record for her in that parish, but than marriage records don't start until 1863 but perhaps if she is his sister she left with William and settled in the same area.

[johnreese1]

Thank you Sinann.  I just found out about Elizabeth so I haven't tried to follow her yet.  William migrated to NY then Wisconsin in the 1850s and married a Johanna Frawley in Beloit, Wisconsin.  I do know his parents name from a 1882 City History of Milwaukee which said father was Brian and mother was Ellen Sullivan.  So now it is a matter of connecting the dotes.  There is also some possibility he came from the County May because another Flynn family buried on same plot in Milwaukee has the first person to die born in the County Mayo.  I was able to find her parents and I think her baptism, but not my William.  The demographics for the name Flynn in Ireland is kind of like Smith in any other country.  in 1850 there were over 500 families in Cork, and almost 300 in May.  And of course most of the rest of the county's were highly populated with Flynn families.  This has been a 40 year mystery for me.  Thank you for your help.  If you have any other thoughts pass them my way.  JR

[johnreese1]

I should have done a better job of editing my last reply.  The other county in Ireland is Mayo and it had an additional 300 families in the 1850.  My apologies for the sloppy reply.  JR

[Sinann]

I was guessing it was autocorrect.

People often did emigrate to areas other families from their area had gone before them, still happens today.
It's a lot easier if there is someone from home to advise and help out when your new to a place, but as you say there are just so many possibility and Irish records from the time are short on detail and sparse in number. Your lucky to even have his parents names.

[mhac]

Hi John,
The place name given for Elizabeth is Glinlaha. This may be Glenlougha, which is an area in Kilmeen, but there are no Flynns there in 1901. No records remain for before that date for that parish. Sadly also no census records available for those years. Also I could find no other Flynn family with that address, though there is another William Flynn son of Daniel Flynn and Mary Cronin in a different area.
Here is the church record for Elizabeth - nearly impossible to read - it is on top right hand corner of this page.
http://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632553#page/19/mode/1up

[mhac]

Also there is another family: David Flynn married to Ellen Roche, with 3 children born William 1844, Julia 1845 and Patrick 1847. In case these name crop up in your search.