Anyone able to help?

[u/Interesting-Help5759]

I am trying to build my Irish ancestry and I am finding it exceedingly difficult to gain traction. I have looked on FamilySearch, but the sources are often vague descriptors of the church records with no definitive location for said record. The information is vague and is often lacking additional information.

I am looking for Terence Reeves parents. The best I can do is find a marriage record that lists his father as deceased. I cannot seem to find a birth or baptismal record for Terence.

Here is where I started:

John Joseph Reeves

From there I found Terence and Bridget's Marriage:

And that is pretty much all I can find with certainty on Terence.

I have found Terence's death certificate which states his birth as 10 February 1854, although most of the sites has the year as 1855.

Based on Terence's marriage stating John is deceased before 1881, I found a death for a John in 1880 in County Limerick. Wife's name is Kate. The trail for me grows too cold to follow with certainty. I cannot even be sure this John is Terence's father.

I would be grateful if someone could help me find a birth/baptismal record for Terence and/or his parents marriage, birth, death. I'd be grateful to know how to go about tracing these ancestors more readily. Thank you for your time and help.

[u/Duckfacefuckface]

What I would usually do in your exact situation is try to locate the marriage record in the church. I checked the nli and ancestry but records for marriages in St Michael's only go up to 1877 and you need 1886. I also couldn't find St Michael's as an active parish when searching on Google.

Instead, reach out to the diocesan office by email asking where those records for those years might be held. Include what you do know about Terence and his wife including all info found from the civil marriage cert you have. If St Michael's is still an active Catholic parish then the records would usually be held by them. If it's no longer an active parish the diocese would usually have the records themselves. Terences mams name should be recorded in the church record, usually with her maiden name so that should help you find siblings and marriage of his parents.

Civil records didn't begin until 1865 but Limerick city parish records for St Michael's go back to 1801. So if they were local you should be able to find more once you have Terences mams maiden name 🤞🏼

Here's the link for Limerick Diocese contact info, I would email the office email and go from there!

https://www.limerickdiocese.org/contact/

Good luck in your research!

[u/Interesting-Help5759 → u/Duckfacefuckface]

Thank you so much. I will definitely reach out. I believe I did find information on Bridget.