My Bowles in South Tipperary developed in two seperate Catholic and Church of Ireland branches but still moved from place to place together from the mid 1700's to the early 1800's and then both emigrated to Canada. I have had quite a lot of success accessing the surviving Church of Ireland records for Tipperary at the representative Church Body Library in Dublin, some at the National Archives, several local church offices have done free lookups from their local copies or indexes of registers and the church in Clonmel has all their records for the surrounding parish computerized and provides a complete single surname report for 40 euros. Having had a look at the Tipperary Family History Research Center site it appears that there is only one option for me to now branch into the Catholic arm of my Bowles family which I have found traces of in Gortnahoe, Fethard and Killenaule (the Tipperary center), Clonmel and Cahir (the Waterford Centre) and at Silvermines (the Nenagh Centre) and that would be by paying a total of 180 euros to those three centres. I plan to travel to Ireland in August to do the in-person research which I have not been able to do from here except through a paid researcher, but even being there the only way will still be to pay the 180 euros. Apparently their reports will also not be complete surname reports which may help me discover new family lines but only the direct line for the ancestors which I request. Is that correct? There is no other way to access any of the Tipperary Catholic records?

I had great success a few years ago looking for my family in the Limerick Archives. However I do not know if they are still in operation. This was for a Catholic Church I needed in Tipperary as they were indexing the records. Dan

I have had some success in finding my family by going directly to the local church by contacting the parish priest far in advance and they would make the actual baptismal and marriage records available. Of course you need to know which church and which names. It would help immensely if you know approximate dates. And then everything is written in Latin, but if you do a little research before, that is not insurmountable. The last names are not in Latin, nor the townland if it is written. I would always make a donation to the church after. Sandy There is no other way to access any of the Tipperary Catholic records?

Tom, There is a Bowles branch in Solohead in the 1850's as a Bridget Bowles married Michael Quillinan there in 1851; a witness to the marriage was John Bowles. They had 6 children in Solohead and I think another daughter in Limerick. Baptism sponsors included John Bowles, Honora Bowles, William Bowles and Catherine Bowles. Janet On 2/3/06, Tom LaPorte <tlaporte@mts.net> wrote: > > My Bowles in South Tipperary developed in two seperate Catholic and Church > of Ireland branches but still moved from place to place together from the > mid 1700's to the early 1800's and then both emigrated to Canada. > >

I think you will find, that is the only way to acess the Tipperary Catholic records. I have been to the research centre, and actually got all of the records of my family. Mind you it was only one generation. Kaye www.bananatv.com/familytreechecklist.htm ----- Original Message -----