The Roman Catholic Congregation of the Council issued a decree for practicing Catholics regarding marriage in 1907. Ne temere took effect on Easter Sunday 19 Apr 1908 and began the practice of the notation of further sacraments next to a person’s baptismal entry. Baptismal notations were to be entered next to the marriage entry. If correctly recorded, these notations help one find a person earlier or later in his life based on the information recorded there. This decree provided an easy way to find an Irish immigrant’s place of origin.
One of the main difficulties as an American researcher is learning where the immigrant came from and properly identifying the townland and parish of origin.
The cross referencing of sacramental notations between the baptism and the other sacraments after 19 Apr 1908 is very helpful in overcoming this difficulty.
Our ancestors and forebears were human and record keeping was not always perfectly maintained. There are baptisms that conceivably were celebrated in Clogher parish, County Tyrone and not recorded.
My ancestor was the eldest child in her family and did have a baptism in 1860 which also listed her birthdate. This was helpful because civil birth certificates did not commence until 1 Jan 1864. The second child was also recorded in the baptisms in 1862 which also provided a date of birth. The third and fifth children born in 1864 and 1868 were in the baptismal register.
The 6 younger children were recorded in the civil birth registry in 1864, 66, 68, 70, 72 and 74. Ironically, the two children who had both a birth AND a baptismal entry are the two children I have no further information on. According to the 1911 Irish census the lived to adulthood as their mother answered 8 born 8 living for the children question as a mother.
The 1860 married in 1888 in Clogher and 1903 in NYC so no notations were recorded next to her baptism. Likewise, the 1862 married in 1902 in NYC and no notation was necessary because it was before Ne temere went into effect Easter Sunday 1908.
I was thorough in following up the other two siblings that I found marriage records for. 1866 married twice in NYC. First in about 1900 and no notation of baptism will have been recorded when I hopefully discover the parish register for this pre-1908 wedding to Patrick Mulcahy. She remarried as a widow in 1920 and did have the only baptismal notation I have found for this family. It said that she was baptized in Clogher in Jul 1871. Her birth registry entry was from Sep 1866. I think it likely that she was born and baptized in Jul 1866 and the birth record was adjusted to avoid a late fee.
This brings me back to Michael McGinn, born 1872. He married three times; 1917 at St Michael Glasgow, 1928 at St Malachy Belfast and 1943 St Paul Belfast. None of these post 1908 Catholic weddings created the marriage notations one would expect and hope for but alas that's what makes this research a challenge and fun. It also made the e-mail from Ascension Parish NYC regarding the 1920 wedding such a gold mine.
Michael John Cassidy was born in Ireland but you would have a devil of a time discovering that from his American paper trail. He was listed as Irish born in only one census record, 1910. In 1914 when he married both civil records show he was born in New York and it is only the baptismal notation from his marriage that states he was baptized in Armagh. It lists the wrong parish using Immaculate Conception the name of the parish in Manhattan where his siblings were baptized from 1882-1895. Michael, however, was born in Newry, Armagh, Ireland and baptized there.
Three Gormley siblings emigrated and married in the state of New York between 1898-1924. Francis Gormley married twice. First, he married Nellie Corr in 1898 in Manhattan. In 1903, he married Catherine Goodwin in New York City. His elder sister, Mary Anne Gormley, married in Mount Vernon in 1906. Their younger sister, Sarah, married there as well in 1924. These last nuptials provided a baptismal notation in church marriage register. Sarah was baptized at Eskra in May 1885. Further research found her baptism in May 1870 there. Clearly, she was not issued a certificate by Eskra in 1924. If she had, it would have certified the correct date. Fortunately, she was just interested in shaving 15 years off her age and not misleading the priest or her betrothed about her birthplace.
If you have a subject that wed in the Catholic Church be certain to obtain a copy of their parish marriage certificate with full baptismal notations. You also want to check each Catholic baptism for those who married post-1907 to see if there were marriage notations recorded next to the baptism. This is the simplest way to track a Catholic throughout his life.
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