Stuck

wellboss

Hi, apologies about the massive paragraph my return key isn't working. Anyway I am having trouble finding my great grandfathers birth and death info in the BMD index. I have located his marriage but cant find the other two. I have an idea who his mother is and when she got married to his father but I want the birth register to confirm the mothers maiden name. I have calculated his rough age by using the two census records. he is 35 in 01 and 45 in 11, Now i know these aren't always trustworthy so I am looking around the calculated date which is 1866. Everybody I have found that was born around this date have a death date as well but these are no where near the death date of my relative. How accurate is the familysearch records, do they include every BDM index? would I be better searching the indexes by hand in the research facility in Dublin I have also searched rootsireland.ie for the parish registers and still no sign of him. Does rootsireland have complete parish registers? or am I better going to look at the actual parish registers as maybe the website doesn't have my parish included. Any idea on the best way to proceed. Thanks

shanew

if you can post some details, i.e. name, location etc, we can try to assist....

Parish records are not complete, have different start dates, and not all are online. You usually need to have a specific location, i.e. county & parish, to start a search of these. Better to start if civil records if possible

Bear in mind that ages reported on census returns etc are not always accurate, so you need to allow at least a few years either way on any calculated years of birth.

Do you have a civil marriage cert for your great grandfather ?

shanew

wellboss wrote: »

.....
a) How accurate is the familysearch records, do they include every BDM index?
....
b) would I be better searching the indexes by hand in the research facility in Dublin
...
c) I have also searched rootsireland.ie for the parish registers and still no sign of him. Does rootsireland have complete parish registers?
....
d) or am I better going to look at the actual parish registers ...

a) Except for occasional errors and omissions the index is generally accurate, it was a large manually created recordset, so a few issues are to be expected. The FamilySearch version is a fairly accurate transcription of films of the GRO Index books. There are some documented gaps, but as far as I remember these are in the late 1800s. Not all births were civil registered during the early years, so there may not be a record.

b) It might be worth a try, but probably better to wait and see more detailed information in the proposed GRO / IrishGenealogy BMD Index that due online by early next year.

c) RootsIreland dont cover all counties, or all parishes in the counties they do cover. They have a webpage with a list of sources they have for most, but not all counties.

d) Yes if you know which parish, and there is public access to them. Some historic records are fragile, so not all are open for general research. The NLI have films of most historic RC records.

wellboss

Hi, Yea i can post the details. I am looking for a John Reape (sometimes called reap or rape) who should be registered in the Ballina Poor law union, thats where the marriage is for 1907 when he married a Maria smyth. I have got a photocopy of the register from the GRO through email. I am assuming he was born in an area called castleconnor/castleconor on the Sligo/Mayo border in a townland called Farrangarode as there is a michael reap/rape/reape in the same area with land in the griffths evaluations and this is the fathers name on the marriage register. However on this register his fathers location says Moyforth/Moyfort. Farrangarode is right beside the river moy so I am wondering was it a local name as it doesn't appear in any townland records. As far as I know this is and was always in the parish of castleconnor. even though the townland was moved into mayo in 1898. This parish is where I believe I have found his parents wedding record in 1859. But there is no record of him unfortunately Hope all that makes sense

shanew

wellboss wrote: »

.....marriage is for 1907 when he married a Maria smyth. I have got a photocopy of the register from the GRO through email. I am assuming he was born in an area called castleconnor/castleconor on the Sligo/Mayo border in a townland called Farrangarode ....
However on the marriage register his fathers location says Moyforth/Moyfort. ....

one quick detail to note - civil marriage records show current residences of the bride and groom. Not necessarily the same as where they were born, or the father's current residence

will check for the locations mentioned, and revert..

wellboss

he is at the farrangarode address living with his parents in the 1901 census then still living there with his new wife in 1911 as I presume his parents were dead, as they put down 89 as their age in 1901

shanew

It looks like Farrangarode was in Co. Sligo before 1898, and in Ballina Poor Law Union and Registration District and in Castleconor civil parish, which fit's with the RC parish you mentioned. In the late 1830s the parish church was as Castletown.

As far as I can see from the NLI Index and Ryans records for the RC parish go back to the mid 1850s, but John Grenham's index suggests that Sligo Heritage and LDS/FamilySearch have dates back to the mid 1830s ?

shanew

The Sligo source list on RootsIreland mentions Castleconnor records back to the 1830s for baptisms and marriages. If there's no sign of him there maybe the family lived somewhere else at that stage.

Wonder if the surname could be recorded under some variation..

I see the family on the census, Reape in 1911 and Rape in 1901. All state born in Co. Mayo, wonder if they mean before or after Farrangarode townland transferred to Co. Mayo from Sligo ?

shanew

very strange - not even finding good matches for the deaths of the parents Michael and Margaret. Not that many matches, most in the right general area, but none seems to fit either the ages/year of births or the likely dates of death between 1901 and 1911..

e.g. Michael Reape died 1915, Ballina district age 89 (c1826)
another died 1921, also Ballina district reported age 98 (c1823)
and two other in the same area during the mid to late 1920s

wellboss

Yeah its strange alright, the census is correct for mayo but it would have been Sligo before 1898, the parishes are still the same tho and so is the poor law union. I have come across a John Rape in the Killala poor law union which is next to Ballina, could be him. But I still feel they were in Farrangarode, only a hunch but there was an Andrew/Andw Reape/Rape in the tithe applotments records in the same region and although I have no proof I am thinking that could be michaels father. It's a confusing one alright. I live abroad at the moment but I was hoping to visit the north mayo and sligo genealogical centres when I am at home for the christmas. As far as I know they have all the parish records indexed

dido2

There are 2 in the ballina district that I think would be worth a look

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FYYG-XZW

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FYTH-GPB

Theres also a possiblity he was born before 1864 when registration began....

There is also a record on ancestry for a John Reape 6th April 1871 father Michael Reape, mother Bridget Devitt, Mayo is the address

shanew

wellboss wrote: »

...But I still feel they were in Farrangarode, only a hunch but there was an Andrew/Andw Reape/Rape in the tithe applotments records in the same region and although I have no proof I am thinking that could be michaels father. ....
but I was hoping to visit the north mayo and sligo genealogical centres when I am at home for the christmas. As far as I know they have all the parish records indexed

I think the parish itself, starting with Castleconnor, might be a better bet, if general access is allowed to the registers and you can arrange that in advance. The parish records in the genealogical centres are probably exactly the same as the data on RootsIreland.

shanew

Have you already eliminated the John Reape baptised in Castleconnor parish in 1858 ?

Father's name is matching Michael.. it would be before their marriage, but not that unusual. Another possibility is that baptisms is part of some records in the register out of sequence, and the date might be unclear or it could be a loose or damaged page.

Edit : mother's name is matching Margaret

wellboss

dido2 wrote: »

There are 2 in the ballina district that I think would be worth a look

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FYYG-XZW

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FYTH-GPB

Theres also a possiblity he was born before 1864 when registration began....

There is also a record on ancestry for a John Reape 6th April 1871 father Michael Reape, mother Bridget Devitt, Mayo is the address

Yeah I have come across the Bridget Devitt entry aswell but with the 1901 census record telling me his mother is Margaret I have my doubts. Unfortunately john and michael were very popular names in the reape families unfortunately. I have also come across those links aswell and I am thinking I will just order the copy of the register entry in the GRO and hope its one of them. Thanks for your help

wellboss

shanew wrote: »

Have you already eliminated the John Reape baptised in Castleconnor parish in 1858 ?

Father's name is matching Michael.. it would be before their marriage, but not that unusual. Another possibility is that baptisms is part of some records in the register out of sequence, and the date might be unclear or it could be a loose or damaged page.

Edit : mother's name is matching Margaret

Nope don't think I have seen that one, where did you find that? familyroots.ie? That could be him alright as the ages in the census I feel are totally off as it says the parents are 89 and he's only 35, which meant she had ham when she was 54, not impossible but i would definitely be suspicious

wellboss

shanew wrote: »

I think the parish itself, starting with Castleconnor, might be a better bet, if general access is allowed to the registers and you can arrange that in advance. The parish records in the genealogical centres are probably exactly the same as the data on RootsIreland.

Yeah I think your right about the local genealogy centers and rootsireland, they were put online by those centers as far as I know. Iam just wondering would I find anything different in the parish registers as John Grenhams book says that all parish records in Mayo, Sligo and Limerick are 100% copied/Indexed.

shanew

wellboss wrote: »

Nope don't think I have seen that one, where did you find that? familyroots.ie?....

from the RootsIreland Free Index - Co. Sligo section

wellboss

shanew wrote: »

from the RootsIreland Free Index - Co. Sligo section

Yeah I did a search and found it, do you have full access, you hardly bought credits to view mother and fathers names did you. Does it give the second name of the mother, any chance it was foody or Humber

shanew

wellboss wrote: »

Yeah I did a search and found it, do you have full access, you hardly bought credits to view mother and fathers names did you. Does it give the second name of the mother, any chance it was foody or Humber

mother's maiden name search doesn't seem to work on the index search for Sligo, tried all the letters... you'd have to pay to see the transcript for that. Everything is pay-per view on RootsIreland

shanew

see why you asked about those surnames... possible siblings in extracted records :

Mary Reape
Birth Place Ballina, Co. Mayo
Birth Date 12 Jun 1870
Parents Michael Reape & Margaret Foody
Ref : 16

Elizabeth Reape
Birth Place Ballina, Co. Mayo
Birth Date 15 May 1865
Parents : Michael Reap & Margaret Humber
Ref. 8

you could try certs for those to confirm more detailed location, father's occupation etc

Ballina probably refers to the district, so could be anywhere in the area. The reference numbers should correspond to register page numbers, and appear on the BMD Index enabling a match to the full index record.

P.S. On the census return forms both Michael and John 'signed' with their mark, i.e. and X, so it's possible their ages etc were out also..

wellboss

shanew wrote: »

see why you asked about those surnames... possible siblings in extracted records :

Mary Reape
Birth Place Ballina, Co. Mayo
Birth Date 12 Jun 1870
Parents Michael Reape & Margaret Foody
Ref : 16

Elizabeth Reape
Birth Place Ballina, Co. Mayo
Birth Date 15 May 1865
Parents : Michael Reap & Margaret Humber
Ref. 8

you could try certs for those to confirm more detailed location, father's occupation etc

Ballina probably refers to the district, so could be anywhere in the area. The reference numbers should correspond to register page numbers, and appear on the BMD Index enabling a match to the full index record.

I have also found a Mary Reape Born in castleconnor to parents Michael Reape and Margaret Humber in 1849. I am now starting to think the 1859 marriage of Michael and Margaret foody may be another couple and in fact the Michael Reap / Margaret Humber couple could be his parents.On the parish birth records Margaret Humber address is listed as knockbrandon and the name of the townland in 1833 Tithe applotments where there is a Andrew reape living is "Farrangarode Knockbrandon"

wellboss

shanew wrote: »

It looks like Farrangarode was in Co. Sligo before 1898, and in Ballina Poor Law Union and Registration District and in Castleconor civil parish, which fit's with the RC parish you mentioned. In the late 1830s the parish church was as Castletown.

As far as I can see from the NLI Index and Ryans records for the RC parish go back to the mid 1850s, but John Grenham's index suggests that Sligo Heritage and LDS/FamilySearch have dates back to the mid 1830s ?

Hi,

Just wondering where you found this information? as I have never come across anywhere called castletown in castleconnor

shanew

wellboss wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondering where you found this information? as I have never come across anywhere called castletown in castleconnor

here Lewis Topographical Directory (1837)

'...The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church; the chapel is at Castletown....'

Castletown may be the name of a village or cross-roads rather than a townland, possibly related in some way to Castleconner townland ?

shanew

think I found it on the 1st Ed OSI map - it's actually on the boundary of a townland name Cottlestown. Might be an error in Lewis, or a transcription issue on AskAboutIreland.

see : RC Chapel, Castleconner c.p.

No sign of the church on the later c1890 maps, but there's a Carrowgarry school at about the same location

shanew

see the following entry from the Official Placename website for Cottlestown townland.

Baile ui choitil in Irish and several variations noted over the years, including several as Castletown in the 1830s. Also a note that '..there is an old castle said to be built about the time of Cromwell's invasions..'. It's shown on the 1st Ed. OSI map adjacent to a Castletown house, also on the same townland. O'Dowd's Castle