It is always useful to view each and every baptismal record for your ancestor’s family.

A recent case gained enormously from such an examination of the baptismal records.

The case concerned a family who emigrated to Canada. It was believed that the date for their departure could be narrowed to a four year window, based on the age of a child born in Dublin, and the next child born in Canada. However, to be thorough, we searched Dublin parish records and discovered the couple had another child, born in the summer of 1881, thus narrowing down the window even further. This proved helpful when searching shipping records.

But the additional bonus of this baptismal record was the mention, by the priest, of a reverend father, of the same name as the infant’s father. A catholic priest (or indeed any clergyman) is likely to be documented in the records and so it proved in this case. We followed this useful clue, which led us to the place of origin for this family.

As for the child in the baptismal record, she died, as so many Dublin children did, in infancy and had not appeared with her family on the Canadian census.

By Carmel Gilbride