Irish records pre-1800

Question

I am trying to break one of my many Irish brick walls, and I'm wondering just how impossible it is to trace Irish ancestors pre-1800. My ancestors, John Croak and his wife Catherine Carroll, lived in Freshford Kilkenny in the 1790s. I have birth registers for some of their children, but more importantly I have verified DNA matches of direct descendants of those children.

I am currently trying to find anything at all about the birth or marriage of John Croak and Catherine Carroll. Their first child was born in 1795, placing their own births at approximately 1775, give or take, and marriage sometime in 1794 maybe. Unfortunately the Freshford church book for marriages between 1780 and 1799 is permanently lost.

Freshford began recording baptisms in 1773, so I might be in luck if John and Catherine were born between 1773 and 1777. Before 1773, I'm not sure where to look.

Does anyone know of any resources for earlier Irish records other than the NLI? I have seen profiles supposedly connecting back to Irish kings, and it has always perplexed me where they find sources of authentication for such information.

Answer 1

Hi Nina

I've found The National Archives of Ireland online https://genealogy.nationalarchives.ie/ (especially the Wills, Probate & Marriage License Bonds ) and the Deeds Index https://irishdeedsindex.net/search/index.php helpful for this period and earlier. Not so much for births be for marriages, deaths, and family relationships. And probably for the more monied portion of the population.

Answer 2

I don't think you will find any birth records for them. It sounds like you have gone through most of the common sources found at Ireland sources, but I can't tell from John and Catherine's profiles so I won't get into that part. What you will need to find is someone who has done research on your family and recorded it in a book or paper format prior to 1922. Most of the more known families you'll be able to find at Space:Historical_Sources_of_Ireland I did a quick search on Croak and found nothing.

You may find some ideas in the second half of Dr, Gleeson's youtube lecture.