County Wexford is traditionally the territory of the McMurroughs, Kavanaghs, and the Kinsellas. Other common Irish family names being O'Day, O'Leary, Murphy, O'Byrne, O'Duggan and Bolger. Norman names, the result of the Norman invasion, now common in the county include Sinnott, Esmond, Stafford, Codd, Furlong, Wadding, Hore and Devereux. The Welsh origin name of Meyler has also been round since Norman times.

Irish family records are sparse for a number of reasons:

Most of the population during the late 18th to mid 19th centuries were small tenant farmers and labourers. These occupations required few written records.
Even births and marriage events were not in general recorded by the state until 1864, and by in large, not by the Catholic church until after 1800.
Official government censuses were conducted every ten years from 1821. However, apart from the 1901 and 1911 censuses few individual household returns are available. The 1861 and 1891 individual household returns were deliberately destroyed by government order, while the returns for 1821 through 1851 were almost all burned in the fire which destroyed the Public Record Office in 1922.

You may find the following resources of assistance in searching for you County Wexford families.

Archives and Libraries

LDS FH Library Catalog Entries for Wexford	Wexford Public Libraries
Wexford Genealogy Centre Yola Farmstead Tagoat Co Wexford Ireland Tel: + 353 53 32608 Fax: + 353 53 32608	National Archives of Ireland Bishop Street, Dublin, Co Dublin Ireland Tel: + 353 (1) 407-2300 Fax: + 353 (1) 407-2333 Email: [email protected]
National Library of Ireland Kildare Street, Dublin, Co Dublin Ireland Tel: +353-1-6030200 Fax: +353-1-6766690 Email: [email protected]

Books and CD's

Title	ISBN
Index to the Townlands and Towns, Parishes and Baronies of Ireland	0-8063-1052-9
A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland	0-8063-1152-5
Irish Records Sources for Family and Local History	0-916489-76-0
Index to Griffiths's Valuation of Ireland 1848 - 1864	1-57944-061-4
Lewis's Gazetteers of England, Ireland, and Scotland	1-57944-205-6
Cassell's Gazetteer of the British Isles	1-58211-053-0
A Genealogists Guide to Discovering Your Irish Ancestors	1-55870-577-5

Mailing Lists and Query Boards

Wexford Query Board	IRL-Wexford Mailing List
Wexford Surname List	General Ireland Queries
Irish Family History Foundation Board	Wexford Mailing List

General Resources

Cyndi's List Ireland and Northern Ireland page	GenUK-I Wexford Page
Other Days	Church of Ireland Genealogy + FH
FIANNA's County Wexford Page	Irish Times Genealogy Pages
Irish Origins Irish genealogy search engine	Wexford Family History Society Secretary: Mrs Eithne Scallan Address: Carraig Mór, Maudlintown, Wexford. Phone: (053) 22973

Civil Registration

You can narrow down the possibilities when searching the indexes as if the event occurred in County Wexford, then the registration district will be one of the five Poor Law Unions that cover the county, Gorey, Enniscorthy, New Ross, Wexford and Shillelagh. Note however that only a small part of the PLU of Shillelagh covers County Wexford and part of the PLU New Ross extends outside County Wexford so not all entries for those districts will be from County Wexford. Once you have the index reference, you can apply for either a photocopy of the original register entry or a certified copy.

Birth register entries should contain the following information: Date and place of birth (place could just be the townland or worse just a property name), father's name and occupation, mother's name - including maiden name, and the name and address of the person making the registration.

Marriage register entries should contain the following information: Date and place of marriage, names of bride and groom, their age (might just be given as full), status (Batchelor, spinster etc), their occupations, residence, father's names and occupations, and the names of the witnesses.

Death Register entries contain the least information, but should contain: Date and place of death, name and age of deceased, marital status, occupation, cause of death and the name and address of the informant.

LDS Film Numbers for Civil Registration Indexes for Births Marriages and Deaths.
The Mormon church has microfilms of the BDM indexes as detailed in the table below. You can find your nearest Mormon family history centre at http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp

Births

Marriages

Deaths

Year(s) Film # Year(s) Film # Year(s) Film #

1864 0101041 1845-47 0101241 1864-65 0101582

1865 0101042 1848-50 0101242 1866-67 0101583

1866 0101043 1851 0101243 1868-69 0101584

1867 0101044 1852-53 0101244 1870-71 0101585

1868 0101045 1854-55 0101245 1872-73 0101586

1869 0101046 1856-57 0101246 1874-75 0101587

1870 0101047 1858-59 0101247 1876-77 0101588

1871 0101048 1860-62 0101248 1878-79 0101589

1872 0101049 1863-65 0101249 1880-81 0101590

1873 0101050 1866-68 0101250 1882 0101591

1874 0101051 1869-72 0101251 1883-84 0101592

1875 0101052 1873-76 0101252 1885-86 0101593

1876 0101053 1877-80 0101253 1887-88 0101594

1877 0101054 1881-84 0101254 1889 0101595

1878 0101055 1885-88 0101255 1890-91 0101596

1879 0101056 1889-92 0101256 1892 -93 0101597

1880 0101057 1893-95 0101257 1894-95 0101598

1881-82 0101058 1896-97 0101258 1896-97 0101599

1883 0101059 1898-1901 0101259 1898-99 0101600

1884-85 0101060 1902-05 0101260 1900-02 0101601

1886-87 0101061 1906-09 0101261 1903-05 0101602

1888-89 0101062 1910-14 0101262 1906-07 0101603

1890-91 0101063 1915-17 0101263 1908-10 0101604

1892-93 0101064 1918-21 0101264 1911-13 0101605

1894-95 0101065 1914-16 0101606

1896-97 0101066 Note: Non catholic marriages 1917-19 0101607

1898-99 0101067 only pre 1864 1920-21 0101608

1900-01 0101068

1902-03 0101069

1904-05 0101070

1906-07 0101071

1908-09 0101072

1910 0101073

1911-12 0101074

1913-14 0101075

1915-16 0101076

1917-18 0101077

1919-20 0101078

1921 0101079