Post
by Elwyn 1 » Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:00 am
You certainly won’t get their birthdates from any statutory record, and if they were born in Moville parish before 1847, then it doesn’t seem likely you’ll get them from church records either. Likewise for their parents names. Even if the marriage is in the RC parish records, it’s not certain you’ll get the parents names from that source. RC records in the 1800s often had just the couples names and that of the 2 witnesses. That was all that canon law required. Occasionally their townlands and sometimes the groom’s occupation are mentioned but they didn’t always record the names of parents.
If you know where they are buried, you might get information from a gravestone (if they have one) and you could look for a death certificate if you have some idea of when they died. 15 people named Rose Farren died in the Inishowen registration area between 1870 & 1920. You can eliminate a few by age. That leaves 4 born between 1826 and 1843 who might be the one you are looking for. You could order all 4, and since you should have the family townland from Ellen’s birth cert, that should tell you which is the right one.
Looking for Patrick’s death will be harder as the name is much more common, especially in that area, but if you find Rose’s death, it’ll give you her marital status and from that you’ll know whether Patrick was still alive at that point. And so whether to search forwards or backwards from that date.
Bear in mind that Irish death certificates are the same as English ones and are not as helpful as Scottish ones. That is to say they don’t contain the deceased’s parents details, or even their spouses name, unless the spouse happens to be the informant.
Irish death certs are not on-line like Scotlandspeople. You need to order them from GRO Roscommon. There is a photocopy option which costs €4 per cert, provided you give them all the details they need (including the place, year, quarter, volume & page number). If you want to order one/all of them and need help, let me know and I’ll explain how you do it, and where you get the reference details from.
Have you looked for the family in Griffiths Valuation?
Elwyn