Researching the birth or baptism of my 2 x great grandfather

Hello,
I'm trying to confirm the place of baptism or birth of my 2x gr grandfather from what I found on Ancestry.

John Nelligan
B June 15, 1826 Gurteens, Kerry, Ireland
D 1860 Sea captain Lake Erie, Ontario, Canada

M Margaret Kieley
B 1826 Tallow, Cty. Waterford
D 1890 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Children:
My gr. grandpa John Bartholomew Nelligan + 6 more siblings -musician, teacher and city assessor
B 1843 or 1850 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
D 3 Sep. 1920 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Thank you in advance!
Maureen Dunne-Stout

Hi Maureen,

It's good to hear that you're researching your Irish roots and are making progress. Given the year that your 2X great grandfather was born in, it's most likely that they would have been baptized locally in the townland of Gurteen, which is located in the parish of Kilgarvan, not far from Kenmare and south of Killarney. If you're interested in researching more about his early life, there are many useful resources on the Kerry Library website.

I would say that the same is likely true of Margaret Kieley. I do know that there are people with the surname Kieley still living in Tallow. You can check out the Waterford Council website for more information on researching her early life.

It can be tricky researching as far back as the early 19th century in Ireland as before 1864 records were kept in the form of church and parish records. It was only in 1864 civil registration was introduced in Ireland, which is when we started seeing the formal registration of births, marriages, adoptions and deaths.

I wish you well with your research.

Regards,
Eoin