This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: AnnetteCode Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.britisles.ireland.may.general/7862.3.4.1.2.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: I looked up the term "in chancery" in wikipedia, many other answers came up to a general google. In short it means in court. The Chancery was an early court, disputes over property and money held pending settlement of court actions appears to be the answer. You can look it up with a simple 'google' search and get a more definitive meaning. Since you know that these bmd's were Church of England, their records were not destroyed in the Four Courts Fire, government documents with recorded bmd's were destroyed there.Church of Ireland records with original registers before 1899 are in their Representative Library in Dublin. In person research either by yourself or a genealogist hired to search. However, the records for the years in question depend on the churches history of war, fires, storage as to what survived. I have been to the Library and have found records for Co.Wicklow bmd's back to the 1600's for the Aghold Parish , however, the particular records I was looking for the Carnew Parish records only survive from 1808. Each parish is different. With you knowing where some of the family are buried gives you a starting point in the parish records, also Griffiths give a Parish for the Short property. Many of the County Heritage Societies have copies of the parish records in their databases which are starting to b! e put on-line. There is a charge for the information of 5E per record, which is less expensive than hiring a genealogist or visiting Ireland but from others who have used this method you may get the wrong ones if you don't have the time frame and so many extended family members used the same names. If you contact me at codeannette@yahoo.ca I can give you the website as rootsweb's policies don't allow me to post commission/fee websites.Annette codeannette@yahoo.ca Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.