Irish Civil Registration

I have been able to make huge strides filling in my family tree. All from the convenience of my laptop in Omaha (and a recent trip to Ottawa!) I have discovered the dates and places of death for four of my great-great grandparents, multiple dates of deaths and marriages for the numerous siblings of my great-grandparents that remained in Ireland in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I have even been able to make contact with a few living descendants of these deceased collateral relatives; all in a fortnight.

One of the necessary strategies is making sure to toggle between various websites. Ancestry.com is an excellent base for my research. There are census records, indexes and scores of other documents to examine looking for our relatives. With deep roots in New York City, I am glad they have the NY state censuses as well as many city directory options.

However, Fold3.com, its sister site has a much more complete selection of New York City directories. Likewise, while Ancestry has the vital records indexes for NYC, it does not have the actual documents. FamilySearch.org does not have the scanned images of these vital records(yet), but it does have a searchable database with some of the facts from the certificates.

For example, when you look up the 5 Mar 1933 death record for James English at FamilySearch, you learn that he was the son of Robert English and Elizabeth Mowson(sic). There is an 1883 NYC marriage record at FamilySearch that says James was the son of Robert English and Elizabeth Morrison. You will also discover that there was a marriage in 1854 between Robert English and Eliz. Monson(sic).

Here we have a few conflicting facts and it is our job to sort through the discrepancies and hopefully discover the truth. The important thing is to get it right and not try to force a square peg into a round hole. Looking at the actual scans or microform images can help one to decipher the handwriting. Perhaps the "w" in Mowson is actually "rri" and that would make the name Morrison and agree with the 1883 record. The "n" in Monson in 1854 could suffer from the same issue and perhaps the name there was actually Morrison too.

There is a lot of detective work and sometimes no explicitly clear answer. Looking at the handwriting did convince me that this one couple was recorded on their marriage certificate, their son's marriage record and his death certificate. Be thorough. Check for other children of this couple. You will find an 1888 marriage for their son Martin which lists their names as Robert (English) and Lizzie Morrissey. Martin died in 1908 and his death certificate was transcribed to report his parents as Robert English and Elizabeth Neonisy. These are a bit more problematic. Looking at the actual handwriting on the microfilms the name Neonisy is misread and I think it says Morrisey too. However, that is not the same name as Morrison, or is it? Irish surnames have a peculiar trait that they can be spelled different ways and also with the O or Mc prefix or without. It could be a spelling error on the part of the clerk. Don't drop a research thought process because of someone else's error 100 years ago.

My great-grandmother Nora Buckley was born in 1865 to John Buckley and Nora Curtin of Killavullen, County Cork. They had married there in 1857 and had 4 other children; John in 1857, Bridget in 1860, Hannah in 1861 and Denis in 1868. Since Civil Registration of Births did not begin until 1864, only the two younger children have civil birth records which indicate that John was a publican and that they lived at Beennaskehy townland.(I learned later that publican means tax collector but the family thinks he was more likely tending bar at a pub.) The older three children had baptismal registrations at the local Catholic chapel but it provided less detail.

Nora Buckley married John Riordan in 1894 in Cork City. She was residing at 59 Dublin Street there according to the civil marriage registration. I had no idea what became of her parents, especially her mother. In the 1901 Irish Census, I found a widowed John Buckley living at 57 Dublin Street with three adult children; John, Bridget and Denis. The ages suggested that they were the correct people. In the 1911 Census the younger John Buckley and his sister Bridget were still living at 57 Dublin Street.

Buckley is a very common name in Cork. I have tried for years to utilize the indexes available and target which entries might be the correct Nora Curtin Buckley and John Buckley. I wrote many many times to the Registrar General in Dublin and then Roscommon trying to find their dates of death. Until 2 weeks ago I was unsuccessful.

I was able to go to www.irishgenealogy.ie and start seeing the actual death registrations. In just a few hours, I finally found my John Buckley dying on 28 Mar 1909. He died at 57 Dublin Street and the informant was his daughter Bridget Buckley, present at death. This date explained why he was not in the 1911 Irish Census.

Wanting to complete the pair, I searched for Nora Buckleys. This was an arduous chore because I knew she was alive in August 1868 when Denis was born but dead before April 1901. In 1868 they lived in the Mallow Registration District(RD) but by 1901 the family lived in Cork's RD.

Finally after many incorrect looks, I found Nora Buckley, 59 Dublin Street, dying on 1 Mar 1901. She just missed being counted in the 1901 Census. The informant was again, Bridget Buckley, daughter, present at death.

I found youngest sibling Denis Buckley, bachelor, dying at 57 Dublin Street on 16 Mar 1911. He too died just before the Irish Census. Bridget Buckley, sister, was present at death.

In 1918, the oldest sibling John Buckley died on 6th February, unmarried. His sister Bridget was the informant and present at death, again.

I had found no record of the middle sister Hannah since she stood as sponsor for her niece Mary Riordan, of 4 St. Finbarr Street in 1895. I looked for both marriages and deaths for Hannah Buckley. In 1931, I found she died, unmarried, at 57 Dublin Street on 19th August. Bridget Buckley, was the informant, present at death. It did not specify they were sisters.

In 1933 the inevitable happened; Bridget Buckley died on the 29th of January. Who would be the informant for this spinster? The answer, Denis O'Riordan, 4 St. Finbarr Street.

I do not know why the family was at 59 Dublin Street in 1894 and early March 1901 and then at 57 Dublin Street from late March 1901 until January 1933. I do know that my great-grandmother lived at the same address as a woman who had her mother's name and died in 1901. That woman's daughter, Bridget, was living at 57 Dublin Street from late March 1901 until her death in 1933. Denis O'Riordan was the son of the Nora Buckley Riordan who married in Cork City in 1894. That relationship pulls it all together and was very satisfying. I am still shocked that it took so little time.