This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: DaveBoylan Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.britisles.ireland.may.general/8687.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hello sunnyshine06, I'm not a descendant of the Sweeny and Donovan clans, but found the marriage index for a John Sweeny and Mary Donovan that may pertain to the ancestors your are looking for. The index shows that John and Mary were married in the Fermoy Catholic Church in 1874. Fermoy is located in County Cork. This index comes from the Irish Family History Foundation (IFHF) website for County Cork (North & East). You had stated in your post to the Ancestry.com message board for County Mayo, that Mary Donovan was from County Cork. Catholic marriages traditionally took place in the bride's parish, which means there's a good chance the marriage index pertains to the ancestors you are looking for. The index is below: 1 match for the search criteria: Sweeny (plus variants) John 1874 Parish: FERMOY (RC) Record Type: Marriage Records for Co. Cork (North & East) Surname: Sweeny First Name: John Spouse's Surname: Donovan Spouse's First Name: Mary Father's Surname: Father's First Name: Mother's Surname: Mother's First Name: Year: 1874 Parish/District: Parish: FERMOY (RC) ____ The IFHF homepage can be found at: http://www.rootsireland.ie/ Before accessing indexes at the IFHF you'll first have to register. Registration is free. You'll also be able to access the marriage index for John and Mary that I did for free, but you will be charged to obtain a transcription of the marriage from the IFHF. You'll have to purchase credits with a credit card to obtain the transcriptions. The IFHF website will have more information about purchasing credits for baptism, as well as birth, marriage, and death or burial transcriptions. The marriage transcription may give you additional information not found in the index, such as the exact date of the marriage, and may also include the name or names of the witnesses to the marriage, and the name of the priest who married them. I don't believe the marriage transcription will include the names of the fathers of John and Mary. However, it was traditional for civil marriage indexes from this time period to include the names and occupations of the fathers of the groom and bridge. With this in mind I looked for the civil marriage index for John Sweeny and Mary Donovan at Ancestry.com. I found their individual marriage indexes, showing their marriage recorded in the Fermoy Registration District in 1874. These indexes follow: Ireland, Civil Registration Marriages Index, 1845-1958 Name: John Sweeney Date of Registration: 1874 Registration district: Fermoy Volume: 9 Page: 315 FHL Film Number: 101252 AND Name: Mary Donovan Date of Registration: 1874 Registration district: Fermoy Volume: 9 Page: 315 FHL Film Number: 101252 Source Information: Ancestry.com. Ireland, Civil Registration Marriages Index, 1845-1958 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: "Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes 1845-1958," Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah. General Register Office. "Quarterly Returns of Births in Ireland with Index to Births." Belfast, Ireland. ____ You can order a copy of the marriage record for John Sweeny and Mary Donovan from the General Register Office (GRO) in Roscommon Town, County Roscommon. For information about ordering civil birth, marriage, and death records, for applications forms, and the costs of the records, go to the GRO website at: www.groireland.ie/ Next I found the baptism index for John and Mary's daughter, Bridget Sweeny. The index shows that Bridget was baptized in the Fermoy Catholic Church in 1875: 1 match for the search criteria: Sweeny (plus variants) Bridget 1875 Parish: FERMOY (RC) Record Type: Baptism/Birth Records for Co. Cork (North & East) Surname: Sweeny First Name: Bridget Father's Surname: Sweeny Father's First Name: John Mother's Surname: Donovan Mother's First Name: Mary Year: 1875 Parish/District: FERMOY (RC) ____ The baptism transcription from the IFHF could provide you with additional information, such as the names of Bridget's godparents. The godparents may be relatives of John and Mary, or friends of theirs. I then found Bridget's civil registration birth index at the Latter Day Saints (LDS) website, showing that she was born on 26 February 1875 in Cork, Ireland. Her parents are listed as John Sweeny and Mary Donovan. The LDS website can be found at: https://www.familysearch.org/#form=advanced-records Bridget's birth index follows: Bridget Sweeney, "Ireland, Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881" name: Bridget Sweeney gender: Female baptism/christening date: baptism/christening place: birth date: 26 Feb 1875 birthplace: Cork, Ireland death date: name note: race: father's name: John Sweeney father's birthplace: father's age: mother's name: Mary Donovan mother's birthplace: mother's age: indexing project (batch) number: C70158-6 system origin: Ireland-EASy reference number: v 4-2 p 772 source film number: 255925 = Quarterly returns of births in Ireland, 1864-1955: Ireland. General Register Office Collection: Bridget Sweeney, "Ireland, Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881" https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FGZQ-ZPJ Citing this Record "Ireland, Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FGZQ-ZPJ : accessed 08 Feb 2013), Bridget Sweeney, 26 Feb 1875; citing reference v 4-2 p 772, FHL microfilm 255925. ____ Bridget's birth record can be found in LDS microfilm number 255925. You can order this film from your local Family History Center. Alternatively, you can order a copy of Bridget's birth record from the aforementioned General Register Office. I didn't find the birth or baptism indexes for any more children of John Sweeny and Mary Donovan in County Cork, or anywhere else in Ireland. Was John Sweeny in the military? To view a modern Google Map of Fermoy, County Cork, go to the following link: http://tinyurl.com/aqeqvhf Once at the map you'll see that Fermoy is divided by a river. This is the Blackwater River. The name of the Catholic Church in Fermoy is St. Patrick's. You can view St. Patrick's Church by doing the following. To the left of the Google Map, highlighted in blue, is a prompt for "Directions." Click on Directions. A drop-down box labeled A will then appear. In the A box, type in St. Patrick's Church Fermoy, then click on "Get Directions." The next map that appears shows the route highlighted in blue from the Blackwater River to St. Patrick's Church, located on Chapel Hill. The letter A is pointing to St. Patrick's Church. Next, left-click on the letter A to generate a "Street view" thumbnail photo of the Church. Click on the photo to enlarge it, and you'll be able to view the church close up. From this point you can take a virtual tour of Fermoy using your mouse and pointer. To view a sketch of St. Patrick's Church and to read a brief history of the church, go to the following links: http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/history/irishbuilder/saintpatrickschurchfermoy/ http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/history/irishbuilder/irishbuilderarticles/1860s/church_fermoy_1867.pdf For another history of Fermoy go to: http://www.blackwater.ie/fermoy/history.htm And for another article about Fermoy, from the 1837 edition of Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, go to the LibraryIreland link at: http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/F/Fermoy-Condons-and-Clongibbons-Cork.php Kind Regards, Dave Boylan 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.