Molly, One answer to your question is to go to Ireland. Frustrated by the lack of records outside Ireland, I made a trip to Dublin in 2003. My first stop was the National Library. I had prior knowledge that my mother's family (Cotter) came from Schull Parish in the far west. The expert on duty in the Genealogy Room pointed me to the microfilm for the Catholic parish at Schull. I succeeded in finding records for my great-grandfather William Cotter (1840-1891), his wife, Mary Collins (1843-1925), their parents, and several siblings. Mary Collins parents were Bartholomew Collins (1811 - 1896) and Johanna Hegarty (1817-1904). It was a pleasant surprise to find the Collins and Hegartys in the Schull records. The microfilm was quite legible, and I found many birth and marriage records for these families. I spent three days perusing Baptism and marriage records, which go back to 1809. >From the web site of the Diocese of Cork and Ross (http://www.corkandross.org/html/history/genealogy.jsp): "All of the baptism records prior to 1890 for Cork County have been micro-filmed by the National Library (www.nli.ie) and written permission is not required from the priests of any Cork County parish to browse these films." The Online Record Search System of the Irish Family History Foundation (http://www.brsgenealogy.com/) sounds wonderful, but it is not yet extensive. I submitted several queries for births in County Antrim for which I have documented verification from Presbyterian Church records obtained at PRONI, and in every case the response was: " No records were returned for the search criteria given. Please refine your search and try again. " Same for records from the church at Schull. Meanwhile, Ireland is a wonderful place to visit. Paul Chestnut ----- Original Message ----- From: countycork-request@rootsweb.com To: countycork@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 12:00:13 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: COUNTYCORK Digest, Vol 4, Issue 159 Message: 1 Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:12:54 -0500 From: Bonkersdog <Bonkersdog@aol.com> Subject: [CO CORK] South Cork To: CountyCork-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <4B309BA6.4020508@aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Merry Christmas to all. I like reading all the information pulled from County Cork. However, my husband's Murphy and Fitzgerald lines come from South County Cork. His gggrandparents were married in St Peters and Paul but their first born daughter was baptized in another church. After that they immigrated to America. Are there records online for South County Cork or do I just start writing each Catholic church I can find? A gentle shove in the right direction would certainly help. The Baptism would have ocurred around 1849. I appreciate any help. Happy New Year. Molly

A visit might be my solution as well. After several years working on finding the family of my great great grandfather, Samuel Rawlins...including working rather extensively with a researcher...I have not been able to link him to his proper roots. I have a few strong possibilities, including learning more about the family of George Henry Rawlins of Durrus and Ballinadee but until more records for Cork become available, I am "stuck". Unless of course, I get a Christmas wish and find a cousin or two with family info. Merry ...merry....merry.... Bev w -----Original Message----- From: Paul Chestnut <pcchestnut@comcast.net> To: countycork-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Wed, Dec 23, 2009 1:54 pm Subject: [CO CORK] South Cork Molly, One answer to your question is to go to Ireland. Frustrated by the lack of records outside Ireland, I made a trip to Dublin in 2003. My first stop was the National Library. I had prior knowledge that my mother's family (Cotter) came from Schull Parish in the far west. The expert on duty in the Genealogy Room pointed me to the microfilm for the Catholic parish at Schull. I succeeded in finding records for my great-grandfather William Cotter (1840-1891), his wife, Mary Collins (1843-1925), their parents, and several siblings. Mary Collins parents were Bartholomew Collins (1811 - 1896) and Johanna Hegarty (1817-1904). It was a pleasant surprise to find the Collins and Hegartys in the Schull records. The microfilm was quite legible, and I found many birth and marriage records for these families. I spent three days perusing Baptism and marriage records, which go back to 1809. >From the web site of the Diocese of Cork and Ross (http://www.corkandross.org/html/history/genealogy.jsp): "All of the baptism records prior to 1890 for Cork County have been micro-filmed by the National Library (www.nli.ie) and written permission is not required from the priests of any Cork County parish to browse these films." The Online Record Search System of the Irish Family History Foundation (http://www.brsgenealogy.com/) sounds wonderful, but it is not yet extensive. I submitted several queries for births in County Antrim for which I have documented verification from Presbyterian Church records obtained at PRONI, and in every case the response was: " No records were returned for the search criteria given. Please refine your search and try again. " Same for records from the church at Schull. Meanwhile, Ireland is a wonderful place to visit. Paul Chestnut ----- Original Message ----- From: countycork-request@rootsweb.com To: countycork@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 12:00:13 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: COUNTYCORK Digest, Vol 4, Issue 159 Message: 1 Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:12:54 -0500 From: Bonkersdog <Bonkersdog@aol.com> Subject: [CO CORK] South Cork To: CountyCork-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <4B309BA6.4020508@aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Merry Christmas to all. I like reading all the information pulled from County Cork. However, my husband's Murphy and Fitzgerald lines come from South County Cork. His gggrandparents were married in St Peters and Paul but their first born daughter was baptized in another church. After that they immigrated to America. Are there records online for South County Cork or do I just start writing each Catholic church I can find? A gentle shove in the right direction would certainly help. The Baptism would have ocurred around 1849. I appreciate any help. Happy New Year. Molly Check out the Ireland GenWeb County Cork Website at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlcor/ It is a good place to find information related to your family research. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to COUNTYCORK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message