Handy Irish Genealogy Handbook

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2 Handy Irish Genealogy Handbook Gary L. Morris 2015 Gary L. Morris ISBN-13: ISBN-10: X

3 Table of Contents Introduction 4,5 Compiling a Family Group History 6,7 The Ahnentafel System 8-10 Beginning Your Research 11,12 Tracing Irish Surnames Irish Places and Place Names 17 Types of Irish Addresses Separation of North and South 21,22 Record Destruction 23 Census Records Substitutes for Census Civil Registrations Online Vital Records Databases 37,38 Parish Records 39,40 Land Commission Records Griffith's Valuation 44,45 Poor Law Records Military Records 49,50 Probate Records th and 18 th Century Records Important Depositories and Online Resources 58-65

4 Notes

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6 Introduction Since the beginning of the 18 th century nearly ten million Irish emigrated overseas. Of that ten million, almost half went to the United States, the majority of the others going to the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia and New Zealand. Some of them ventured farther south to Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, and even South Africa. An illuminating statistic as to the expanse of the Irish Diaspora is that in 1890, only sixty percent of the total world population of Irish were living in Ireland, the rest scattered abroad. This world-wide emigration of the Irish has led to nearly 80 million people around the world claiming Irish ancestry. Irish genealogy has become increasingly popular, with many attempting to trace their Irish heritage back to their ancestors or relatives now living in the Mother Country. Many expect to find themselves related to the great Celtic chieftains and warlords of legend, only to be discouraged when they lose track of their lineage at an early stage. This practical booklet will seek to eliminate those elements of frustration by showing you step-by-step how to trace your Irish ancestry, and what to do if you get stuck. Tracing Irish ancestry has its own set of challenges as well as many unique rewards. There are many historical and genealogical records available for your ancestor, and we know just where to find them. To get you started in tracing your ancestry, we will introduce you to the various record types, and help you to understand: 1. What they are 2. Where to find them 3. How to use them These records can be found both online and off, so we ll introduce you to online websites, indexes and databases, as well as brick-and-mortar repositories and other institutions that will help with your research. Each of the important elements of a genealogical search is introduced and explained. We ll show you what records to search, how to find them, and how to make the most of the information you ll find within. There are intricacies of a genealogical search, little tricks you might say, that we ll teach you so that you are fully research-equipped and ready. Most of all, this booklet hopes to show you how to have fun while undertaking a journey that can be as exasperating as it can be rewarding a trip into the past to find your Irish ancestors.

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8 Compiling a Family Group History Okay, you ve made the decision to undertake a search of your family history to find your Irish ancestors. Like any journey of a thousand steps your genealogical excursion will start with the first. Before you even commence looking for information, you will want to have an efficient and orderly storage and retrieval system in place. Filing your genealogical data accurately and safely is so important; the entire success of your search relies on it. You can find all of the ancestors in the world, but if you don t record the information properly, you could lose them again just as quickly. There can be nothing more disappointing than spending months, or even years, tracking down an ancestor only to lose their information before actually constructing your family tree or being able to share your findings with others. Please take this step very carefully, think of it as preparing the genealogical soil out of which your family tree will grow. Before you enter the information you ll discover on an actual family tree type chart, you ll have to confirm it and authenticate it. Charting your family history in tree form is actually one of the final steps of a genealogical search. Storing the information you gather is known as compiling a Family Group History. This is a file that you ll create to store information as you collect it, a system of indexing. I ll use that term frequently as a referral during the course of this booklet so familiarise yourself with its meaning.

9 The best method of storing your information is to designate a page to each relative. This way each ancestor has his or her section, and everything relating to that person is together in one place. In order to index your family history so that it s easily understandable for yourself and others, there is a system of numbering that allows for quick identification of ancestral relationships at a glance. This is called the Ahnentafel method. The Ahnentafel system designates each ancestor a number, and I recommend using it as the basis for you filing system. It s easy to use, and once mastered will save you lots of time and energy, which you ll greatly appreciate as you delve deeper into your genealogical search. Blank Forms For Your Family Group History Downloadable and printable blank forms are available on the internet for free at several websites. The form at each site is slightly different, so check them all to find the right fit for your project. The best blank forms can be found at: Ancestry.com: Midwest Genealogy Center: Misbach.org: Rootsweb: Family Tree Magazine:

10 The Ahnentafel System The Ahnentafel method was developed by an Austrian genealogist to enable efficiency of recording ancestor information, and recognizing relationships between ancestors. The term or word Ahnentafel literally translated means ancestor table and though it sounds like it could be complicated, it really is amazingly simple. Using the Ahnentafel method to index your family ancestor history will make it much easier to enter the information into your family tree chart once you ve arrived at that point. The following is an explanation of how it works. Every person in the Ahnentafel system has a number that denotes a relationship between parents and children. The first person in an ancestral pedigree is designated number 1. If you are compiling your own family tree, you would index yourself as number one. Subsequently the father of each person is double that person s number, their mother is their number doubled plus one. Therefore your father would be number 2, your mother number three. Written out in index form, a three generational index would look like this: 1. Self 2. Self s Father 3. Self s Mother 4. Self s Father s Father (Paternal Grandfather) 5. Self s Father s Mother (Paternal Grandmother) 6. Self s Mother s Father (Maternal Grandfather) 7. Self s Mother s Mother (Maternal Grandmother)

11 Summary It must be clear that these numbers will not be page numbers, but rather a section number. You can number the pages for each relative individually. You can create a sub-index for each relative or section if you like. As an example, my father would be number one on my main index. Within my binder would be a divider with my father s name on it. The first page within would be a sub index listing the information contained on each separate page. My father s vital statistics his birth, death and marriage dates, occupation, associations and memberships, even height weight and colour of eyes (optional) would be listed on the first page and subsequently indexed etc. Information is easy to retrieve this way. If you need information on a particular relative, you simply consult the main index. Say you need the birth certificate of your maternal grandmother, you simply turn to section 7, consult the sub-index within ah yes, it s on page 3 of your grandmother s file. This system makes it possible for several people to participate in your family search and also for someone to continue at some point in the future. Once you have your Family Group History file ready to receive the information you will gather, it s time to go and get it! All of today's genealogy software programs are capable of producing Ahnentafel charts, but you can also create one by hand or with your word processor. Whichever method you choose, an ahnentafel is an easy method of sharing a lot of ancestral information in a concise manner.

12 Here are some of the most popular FREE Genealogy Programs for your computer: Roots Magic Essentials: Gramps: (Free or make a contribution): Legacy Standard:

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14 Beginning the Information Harvest Start Off at Home Before you go abroad or even outside of your home with your search, first collect and record all the first hand information you have at your disposal. Write the full names of everyone you know into your family group history on the index page under the appropriate number as explained under the Ahnentafel system. Write in all the information you have on them birth, marriage and death dates and places. This is most easily done by including this vital info on the cover page of each ancestors section within your binder. Once you ve listed everyone on your index and written in their information, you ll know where the gaps are and in what direction you need to continue. You may be lacking a good bit of information at this point, but don t fret. Realising the extent of your knowledge is key to having a clear concept of the road ahead. Filling in the Gaps After you ve written down everything you personally know it s time to start conferring with other family members. This can be an adventure in itself. You will find yourself meeting and spending time with relatives you haven t seen for a log time, or ever even met. This is one of the rewards of a genealogical pursuit, not only do you get to know your ancestors of the past, but you will better know your living relatives. Older relatives especially are a rich source of input, but keep in mind failing memories may reveal a bit of inaccurate data, so everything will have to be eventually authenticated. If nothing else, you ll be ably entertained, a rich reward in itself.

15 Begin your immediate search by obtaining all of the written documentation you can get your hands on and make copies of it. Diaries, old family Bibles and scrapbooks can be invaluable and yield untold amounts of useful information. Some relatives might not want to part with valuable or precious documentation or pictures, so it is worthwhile to invest in a decent digital camera. This way you can simply photograph these things and even possibly enhance them a bit with some decent software. After you ve exhausted your family sources it s time to move outside. Your local library may have copies of civil registers that you can search. Civil registry in most countries didn t begin until the nineteenth century, so what you find may only be relatively recent info. The good thing is that churches held their own records for much longer than that, and a search of the records of the church your grandparents belonged to may provide you with a connection to the next generation. When you have completed your local search, it s time to move overseas. The rest of this book will provide you with Irish specific information that will hopefully make it easier for you to find your Irish ancestors.

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17 Tracing Irish Surnames Identification by surname is the first stage of establishing the identities of your ancestors. Your surname provides you with an important link to your past, so it is worth investigating its origins as much as possible during the early part of your genealogical search. Irish surnames can be comprised of many different elements, the origins of which can be Norman, Gaelic, Jewish, British, Scottish even Quaker or Huguenot. Narrowing down your family surname to its origin can save you a lot of time and resources when pursuing your family s past by helping you to know exactly which records to search. History of Irish Surnames Modern Irish surnames reflect the rich history of the Emerald Isle and the people who settled there. Though there is such a vast background of names and their associated history, a positive aspect of having an Irish ancestor is that Ireland was one of the first countries to establish a system of hereditary surnames the practice of passing the family name onto the next generation. This practice began in Ireland as early as the 11 th century compared to countries like Britain who didn t implement the system until the 13 th and 14 th centuries. This inception in Ireland was highly influenced by the church, and Irish prefixes like Gil and Kil mean follower of.

18 The First Irish Surnames The oldest Irish surnames are those beginning with Mac- meaning son of, Gil or Kil mentioned previously, and those containing Mul (Irish- Maol) which means bald which designated a person as a follower of a certain monk. The term O was consequently added, meaning descendant of. Thus Barry O Neil meant that Barry was a descendant of Neil. Soon different adaptations and applications of the prefixes were introduced to spawn a wide variety of Irish surnames. The Origins of Today s Irish Surnames The Norman Influence - The first settlers to extend their influence to Irish surnames were the Anglo-Normans. In fact the English name for Ireland s capitol (Dublin) comes from the Irish Dubh Linn meaning "black pool", which is Norman influenced. The Normans arrived in Ireland during the twelfth century and integrated quickly into Irish society. They brought their own distinctive surnames however, which included Fitzgerald, Power, Burke, and Walsh to name a few. These names can be found throughout Ireland today. The German and Jewish Influence - War and the coldest winter in a hundred years ( ) drove many Germans from their homeland in the Rhineland between 1650 and Many went to America, but some immigrated to Ireland. They did not integrate well and kept mostly to themselves, but they did contribute names such as Switzer and Ruttle. Many of them did eventually integrate though and took Irish names, especially those of second, third and fourth generations.

19 The Jews who arrived from Eastern Europe came to escape religious prosecution towards the end of the nineteenth century. They brought their distinctive names such as Greenburg, Cohen, and Jaffe. The English and Scottish Influence - In the sixteenth century large areas of the Irish midlands were confiscated by the British government and handed over to English families. The English settlers brought with them names like Spencer, Brown and of course Smith. An important difference between the English influence and that of the Normans is that rather than translate their names to an Irish form as did the Normans, the English forced the Irish to anglicize theirs. An excellent example of this lies with the name Mac Gabhann. Gabhann was the Irish name for blacksmith, thus Mac Gabhann meant son of a blacksmith. The English equivalent was Smith, and so by force or threat of it, many Mac Gabhann s were forced to change their name to Smith, especially in the County Cavan area. Keep this in mind if you re searching an ancestor by either name, and especially in and around Cavan. Those who didn t change their name to Smith changed it to today s English version of Mac/Mc Gowan. These sorts of translations and mistranslations have caused much confusion over the origins of certain Irish surnames, so be prepared and if you can educate yourself a little more on your own particular surname and its beginnings.

20 Scottish settlers arrived after the British Government encouraged their subjects to buy up Irish land, and many did. These Scots who came to Ireland at this time were known as planters, and they introduced names like Patterson, Ferguson, and Stewart. These Scottish settlers were mainly Presbyterians and some of their records may be found within churches of that religion. Local Influence - Certain Irish surnames can be associated with particular areas in Ireland. For instance in Donegal the name McNell is prominent, while Co. Cavan is home to many Mac Gowans. If you travel to West Cork you ll find O Sullivans everywhere, and being privy to this sort of information can get you a little quicker to where you want to be in your family history search. Don t make a mistake though of assuming everyone in a particular area is your ancestor, and substantiate any connections with as much other information as possible. Irish surnames have been much corrupted over the course of history, and this is important to keep in mind when doing your research. If you have the surname Burns, your ancestor could have spelt it Bearns, Cairns could be Kearnes, and Mac Owen could have been the Irish Mac Eoin. Apply yourself diligently to your research, and you will be rewarded tenfold. It s important to know the ins and outs of your Irish surname, and it s equally important to know a bit about where they lived.

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22 Irish Places and Place Names If you re trying to trace your ancestors in Ireland you want to make sure that you have as accurate an idea as possible to where they hailed from. If you only know the county that they lived in, you might not be able to locate them. Irish addresses range from the quite detailed to the very vague, but generally speaking the more precise the address you have the better your chances of finding them. Addresses are a simple way of finding someone, but sometimes they are too simple or too complicated. This article will help you to familiarise yourself with Irish address terminology so that you stand a better chance of tracking down your family member. The addresses in Ireland are generally in townland, street or parish, and these are the most useful forms found in Irish address terminology. Remember also that surnames can sometimes lead you to a person s homeland. There is a very useful publication known as the General Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns of Ireland that will help you to identify whether your ancestors address is in town or townland form. A townland can be located within a barony, within a parish, within a county district, within a district electoral division. As you can imagine, Irish addresses can get quite confusing, but don t despair, I ll explain the different terms to you in the following pages.

23 Types of Irish Addresses Different records within Ireland are classified according to their geographical location. Knowing the different names of these locations will give you an advantage in finding the records you re looking for. The following are the various types of administrative address units used in Ireland. Provinces Ulster, Leinster, Connaught and Munster are the four provinces of Ireland. You may be familiar with some of these names already. During the times of the troubles in Ireland, Ulster was mentioned frequently in the news around the world. Ulster is basically Northern Ireland. Leinster and Munster are the biggest rivals in GAA or Gaelic games, Munster is the south of Ireland and includes areas like Cork, Kerry and Tipperary, Leinster is the east of Ireland of which Dublin is a part. The west of Ireland Galway and Dingle area is Connaught. Counties Counties are a leftover form the English era in Ireland. The counties in Ireland are modelled on the English shire and some have been around since the twelfth century. The counties in the Ireland of today are: Republic of Ireland Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford, Westmeath, Wicklow, and Wexford. Northern Ireland Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone.

24 You may come across the name County Coleraine in relation to your Irish relative. Don t worry; this was the original name of County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. Any records regarding County Coleraine will be held under the County Londonderry offices. Baronies The barony is an important county subdivision, and usually number between seven and ten per county. Cork has an exceedingly high number with 20, while Louth has only five. In total there are 331 baronies in Ireland, and occasionally a barony will occupy parts of two different counties. The barony is believed to be type of Norman division, and though they have been obsolete for over a hundred years, you will encounter them in searches preceding Civil Parishes Over two thousand civil parishes exist in Ireland, and they have been in existence since the religious Reformation of the sixteenth century. These are an ecclesiastical division which often extends over the boundaries of baronies and counties. They are important administrative divisions within Ireland, especially when researching Catholic ancestry. The Church of Ireland was the established state Church and accordingly carried out some civil duties such as the religious survey of 1766 and the probating of wills. Parish registers can also be useful in searching for any records that pre-date the establishment of civil registration.

25 Townlands Townlands are the smallest administrative divisions in Ireland and you will frequently encounter them during your research. There are presently over 60,000 townlands in Ireland, the average size being around 350 acres. Individual size can vary immensely though, the smallest being only one acre in size, while the largest is the 7,012 acre Sheskin in County Mayo. Townlands pose their own unique problem in that many of them have the same name. This is where the value of counties and baronies comes in. Knowing the names of the county and the barony of the townland you are researching will overcome that difficulty. The publication mentioned at the beginning of this article The General Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns of Ireland can be useful at this point for identifying county, barony and even civil parishes related to townlands. County District and District Electoral Divisions A new division was introduced to Ireland with the Poor law Act of This division was known as the poor law union and Ireland was initially divided into one hundred and thirty of them. These districts each encompassed multiple townlands and a market town at its core. A workhouse was built in each central town to provide relief to the poor of the area, and this is also why workhouse records can be of value to the genealogist. In 1851 The Medical Charities Act subdivided the existing poor law unions into dispensary districts which were used for registering births and deaths. These grew into the county district and district electoral divisions of modern Ireland.

26 The Separation of North and South Complications for the researcher were created when Ireland was divided into the north and south segments we have today. The setting up of two different states out of the previous one resulted in the inevitable loss or destruction of important and valuable records. Some records regarding the northern counties of Down, Derry, Armagh, Antrim, Fermanagh and Tyrone that had previously been held in Dublin were dispatched to the North and are now scattered amongst various repositories which could make them difficult to track down. Boundary Changes Another factor that family historians could encounter is boundary changes. Some demarcation lines around Ireland have been unstable over the years, thus several townlands that may have existed in the seventeenth century surveys have since disappeared. These boundary changes would also have encompassed parishes, and the creation of new parishes from sections of older ones can be particularly confusing for researchers. Valuable Resources Regarding Address Research It is a fairly recent publication listing census substitute, Roman Catholic Church records, gravestone inscriptions, wills and administrations and other miscellaneous resources and their location. A Guide to Irish Parish Registers by Brian Mitchell (ISBN 13: ISBN 10: ) is also a very useful publication for gathering information of the parish registers of every denomination.

27 Brian Mitchell has also published a book entitled A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland (ISBN 13: ISBN 10: ) in which all of Ireland s 2508 civil parishes are mapped and clearly identified. This book will help you to easily locate counties, baronies, civil parishes and dioceses, poor law unions and probate districts, all relative to modern day addresses.

28 Record Destruction The National Archives of Ireland have been ravaged by fire, carelessness, and mindless pilfering over the centuries. As early as 1304 fire was responsible for destroying valuable documents when the records of the Court of Chancery were burned in St. Mary s Abbey where they were stored. In 1537 the record keepers of Dublin Castle were found to have stolen, or allowed others to steal, numerous documents in their custody. In 1758 the Bermingham Tower the sole repository for government records of the time was destroyed by fire resulting in a huge loss of data. Fire was again responsible for destroying records of the Surveyor General s office in 1711, and the national archives were further depleted by government officials who treated public records as their own personal property, taking the documents with them whenever they left office or retired. Of course the Irish Civil War was responsible for destroying its share of records as well. When the British handed over the Public Record Office to the Provisional Government in 1922, it was immediately occupied by irregular forces who turned the depository into a bomb factory. When the Provisional Government recaptured the Four Courts building, the destruction was immense, with public records picked up in the streets miles away from the resultant bombardment. This was a terrible tragedy in which the explosions of two heavy mines in the record treasury destroyed centuries of work. The Irish government has since made efforts to make up for the loss and some records have been restored. We will direct you to substitutes for lost records on individual records pages.

29 Census Returns Modern census began in Ireland in the year At this time enumerators began calling on Irish households with a view to recording data on the inhabitants within. Their duties were to record the names, ages, occupations and the relationships of each of the inhabitants to the head of the household. Another requirement was for the property size in acreage be recorded, and also how many stories each dwelling contained. It is believed that this particular census was the best ever taken in Ireland in terms of practical application. The census was used as a model for subsequent ones, and those census reports taken in Ireland between 1841 and 1871 are considered to be unrivalled in accuracy and efficiency by any other country. Unfortunately these historical milestones from 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851 were destroyed in the attack on the Four Courts building in This great collection had given the name and details of every man, woman and child living in Ireland in the first half of the nineteenth century, and is the saddest loss of genealogical information one is liable to encounter. Those of fared little better, many being pulped for the war effort between 1914 and There are fragments of these reports in existence so don t completely discard them, you never know, you just might get lucky.

30 How to Find Your Ancestor in the Census Report The 1901 and 1911 census reports are the first complete returns to survive the turmoil of Ireland s history. These records, held in the National Archives in Dublin, provide the genealogist with a wealth of information. These later census s followed the blueprint of their predecessors, and contained information on age, family relationships, literacy, marital status, place of origin and other miscellaneous information. They not only provide you with data, but also a glimpse of what life was like at the time. To find your ancestor you only need to know their address at the time the census was taken. If your ancestor resided in a town you need to have his or her street address, if they lived out in the country you ll need to know the name of their townland. If you don t have their address, a search of birth, death and marriage records should reveal it. The 1901 and 1911 censuses are arranged by household and list each member of the home as well as relatives, servants and even visitors who may have been present at the time the enumerator recorded the information. Details such as each members relationship to the head of the household, age, occupation, religion, literacy level, marital status, language spoken, country of birth and any physical handicaps they may have had were recorded.

31 How to Use Census Information The wealth of information included in census reports can be used in a variety of ways. For instance, with a person s age you can estimate their year of birth. This is particularly helpful if they were born before 1864, as their birth would not have been entered into any birth register as yet. Use the ages found in census reports guardedly, as many of them were estimated by the enterers. A guide of ten years either way should be considered when making your own estimation. The description of the place of dwelling and the number of occupants and servant can be used to cast light on the social and economic status of your ancestors. Thos information can be useful in helping you decide whether to look into estate records or workhouse and poor union records. The origin of birth can help you to follow the movement of your relatives through the centuries. In the case of large cities like Belfast and Dublin, this can be particularly helpful, as they grew tremendously in the late nineteenth century, and they received a large influx of people from both the countryside and overseas. An interesting requirement of married women was that they had to state how long they had been married at the time, thus the marriage date can be established and a possible marriage certificate found. As I mentioned before, there are some surviving fragments of the earlier nineteenth century reports kept in the National Archives in Dublin and the Public Record Office in Northern Ireland. They do not contain as detailed information as the latter reports, but are definitely worth consulting, and can be especially helpful in revealing ancestors who may have emigrated from Ireland.

32 Where to Find Irish Census Records Now that you understand a bit more about Irish census reports and what they contain, it's time to track down those of your ancestor. Following is a compilation of every major source of Irish census records both online and off. The listing includes archives and libraries, genealogical and historical organizations, and online websites where you can browse either indexes or the census records themselves. Good luck and Happy ancestor Hunting! National Archives of Ireland - Census of Ireland 1901/1911 and Census fragments and substitutes, Bishop Street, Dublin 8, Ireland. Phone: (0) / Lo Call: Fax: (0) mail@nationalarchives.ie National Archives of Ireland - LEITRIM-ROSCOMMON Genealogy - A searchable data base containing data transcribed from the 1901 census of Ireland for Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo & Sligo (and other cos.). The data base is complete for all of Roscommon, Leitrim, Mayo & Sligo. All of the other counties are still under development and are on-line for limited searching. LEITRIM-ROSCOMMON Genealogy:

33 General Register Office (Northern Ireland) Oxford House Chichester St Belfast BT1 4HL, Northern Ireland. Tel: +44 (0) , General Register Office: The LDS Family History Libraries have the following indexes which can be searched at their various locations around the world: 1821 census lists for every member of the household name, age, occupation, and relationship to the head of the household census lists only the head of the household, the number of children and adults in the household, and the religion of each household member census lists for every member of the household name, age, sex, relationship to the head of the household, marital status, occupation, and birthplace census lists the same information as the 1841 census. In addition, it has two schedules that were filled out if applicable. LDS Family History Libraries:

34 Substitutes for Census Records Due to the extent of the record destruction in Ireland, many records, especially Census reports have been lost forever. There are other records that, like censuses, provide lists of individuals who lived in specific areas. They are extremely useful as substitutes for the destroyed national censuses and for the centuries beforethe national census was implemented. These substitutes can provide the name, age, religion, occupation, residence, relationships, and/or the value of the property of the individuals they list. Here are the most valuable Ireland Census Substitutes: The Pender "Census" of 1659 This "census" was most likely taken during Petty's survey between December 1654 and It provides the names of the largest estate owners in Ireland at the time in addition to the numbers of Catholics and Protestants residing in each parish. The original clan names are also noted with the numbers of individuals of that surname. It may be purchased on Amazon or from the Irish Manuscripts Commission. Otherwise it may be found in the Reading Room at the National Library of Ireland (Call Number: Ir c 27). Amazon: Irish Manuscripts Commission: action=publication_item&pid=8

35 The National Library of Ireland Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Telephone: Fax: info@nli.ie Weblink: Civil Survey The Civil Survey was a survey of the holdings of landowners, their titles and tenures of their estates. taken from circa It included twenty-seven counties covering the provinces of Leinster, Ulster, Munster and part of Connaught. The LDS Family History Libraries have copies (Family History Library book R2si.), as does the National Library of Ireland in Dubliin (Call Number Ir 9141 c 12). LDS Family History Libraries: National Library of Ireland Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Telephone: Fax: info@nli.ie Weblink:

36 Books of Survey and Distribution These were compiled c.1700 and The Books of Survey and Distribution, compiled c.1700, are an official record of landed proprietors and their estates. They were designed to access rents based on acreage refered to as the "Quit Rent." This was payable every year based on land granted under the 1662 Act of Settlement and the subsequent 1665 Act of Explanation. Printed volumes are available for the counties of Clare, Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon. A typewritten manuscript is available for the County of Louth from the Genealogical Office, Dublin, a branch of the National Library. The LDS Family History Libraries have the following copies: Simington, Robert C. Books of Survey and Distribution, County of Roscommon. (Family History Library book British B4b volume 1). Simington, Robert C. Books of Survey and Distribution, County of Mayo. (Family History Library book British B4b volume 2). MacGiolla Cholille, Breandán. Books of Survey and Distribution, County of Galway.(Family History Library book British B4b volume 3). Simington, Robert C. and Breandán MacGiolla Choille. Books of Survey and Distribution: Being Abstracts of Various Surveys and Instruments of Title, : County of Clare. (Family History Library book British B4b volume 4). Genealogical Office. Books of Survey and Distribution: County Louth, Unpublished manuscript no Dublin: Genealogical Office. (Family History Library microfilm 100,225, item 3).

37 Muster Rolls These are roll calls of officers and enlisted men in Irish and British regiments for the 17th 20th centuries. A detailed listing of these records is found in Gibson, Jeremy and Alan Dell. Tudor and Stuart Muster Rolls, A Directory of holdings in the British Isles, Birmingham, England: Federation of Family History Societies, (Family History Library book British 942 M2gj.) Extracts of Muster Rolls are also deposited in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Belfast. Public Record Office of Northern Ireland 2 Titanic Boulevard Titanic Quarter Belfast BT3 9HQ PRONI at proni@dcalni.gov.uk Telephone: (+44) Website: The Family History Libraries have the following on Microfilm: Muster Rolls, Family History Library microfilm 258,512 Muster Rolls, Family History Library microfilm 258,513 Muster Rolls, Family History Library microfilm 258,514 Muster Rolls, Family History Library microfilm 258,515 Muster Rolls, Family History Library microfilm 258,515

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39 Civil Registrations in Ireland New Years Day of 1864 saw the beginning of civil registration in Ireland, and all births, deaths and marriages have been recorded since, at least in theory. Some births went unrecorded, especially in the early stages of civil registration and particularly with country folk who may have had to travel long distances to register. The following is a summary of what these registers contain and where to find them if searching for an ancestor who was Irish. Birth Certificates The Irish birth certificate contains: 4. Person s date of birth 5. Name of person 6. Sex of person 7. Mother s maiden name 8. Father s name, address and occupation 9. Informants name, residence and qualification (usually their relationship with the subject or legal standing) At the head of the birth certificate will be found the name of the county and the division within in which the birth was originally registered. The real value of an Irish birth certificate is that it can provide you with the difficult-to-find name of the townland where your ancestor was born. A bit of caution should be exercised with the actual birth date on these certificates, as sometimes the birth was recorded sometime after the actual event. Fines were imposed on those who waited too long, so occasionally the dates were fiddled. Marriage Certificates Marriage certificates provide a wide range of useful information, and because they contain the names of both parties, are often the easiest civil records to locate. Marriage certificates contain many details which may prove useful to a genealogist, even providing a link or lead to the next generation. They will tell you: Name of the parish, The Poor Law Union and county Name of Church ]date of marriage Names of bride and groom Ages of bride and groom Occupation, rank or profession of married parties Address of married parties

40 Names and occupations of fathers of bride and groom Names of witnesses

41 Death Certificates Death certificates are considered the least prized of civil registration papers by genealogists. This is due to the common inaccuracies they might contain. Some ages in death certificates can be up to ten years off, and cannot be guaranteed to be correct. Often the heads of families rounded off the ages of their dead relatives to the nearest whole number, so differences of 4 and 5 years are quite common. They can provide you though with: 8. Location of death 9. Former occupation of the deceased 10. Cause of death 11. Name of the informant and their relationship with the deceased The age, though possibly inaccurate, can provide you with an approximate guide as to when the person was born, which will help in your search of a birth certificate. How to Obtain an Irish Birth, Death or Marriage Certificate All records that predate the separation of Northern Ireland and the now Republic of Ireland are held at the General Registers Office in Roscommon. The GRO also maintain a genealogical/family history research facility at 3rd Floor, Block 7, Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1.

42 The Research facility is open Monday to Friday, (excluding public holidays) from 9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. for the purpose of searching indexes to birth, death and marriage records and for obtaining photocopies of records identified from the indexes. Indexes in relation to the following records of life events are available for inspection at the Research Facility: 1. Births registered in the island of Ireland between 1st January 1864 and 31 December 1921 inclusive and in Ireland (excluding the six north-eastern counties of Derry, Antrim, Down, Armagh, Fermanagh, and Tyrone known as Northern Ireland) from 1922 onwards. 2. Deaths registered in the island of Ireland between 1st January 1864 and 31st December 1921 inclusive and in Ireland (excluding Northern Ireland) from 1922 onwards. 3. Non-Roman Catholic Marriages registered in the island of Ireland between 1st April 1845 and 31st December 1863 inclusive. 4. Marriages registered in the island of Ireland between 1st January 1864 and 31st December 1921 inclusive and in Ireland (excluding Northern Ireland) from 1922 onwards. 5. Legal Domestic Adoptions registered in Ireland from 10th July 1953 onwards.

43 Online Databases for Irish Vital Records If you have vital information on your ancestor, obtaining the relevant certificate is a fairly easy process. The Irish Government now makes this service available online, and with a few clicks of the mouse you can download and fill out an application form. The website of the General Registration Office is and they issue certified copies of all certificates. The GRO website also provides other useful information regarding their research facility and what other records they have available at their location in Dublin. If your ancestor was from Northern Ireland, the relevant website to order a copy from is Due to the popularity of genealogy today, there are a growing number of other online databases available to the public. For most there is a fee that varies from website to website and is dependent on the type of search involved. Below is a listing of tried and trusted websites where you can access online databases and associated records. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints has an extensive microfilm collection of Irish civil registers. These can be ordered via their website at The Irish Family History Foundation has begun compiling an online database that now contains the largest collection of Parish records for the island of Ireland that are searchable online. The organization is the co-coordinating body for a network of government approved genealogical research centers in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland. They have computerized nearly 40 million Irish Ancestral records, primarily Church births (baptisms), marriages, and deaths. Keep in mind that the database is not yet complete, but their website makes it very clear which records are available and which not. Worth a visit at The Irish Genealogy website has indexes for Birth Records over 100 years, Marriage Records over 75 years and Death Records over 50 years that can be searched online at Family Search has the following indexes that can be searched online for free: Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes, Ireland Births and Baptisms, Ireland, Deaths, Ireland Marriages,

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45 Catholic Parish Records In Catholic parish registers, one will find the recording of baptisms and marriages. Baptism records will contain: 12. Date of baptism 13. Mother s maiden name 14. Names of two sponsors Occasionally the address of the family is given in the form of the townland in which they lived, but not always. Marriage entries contain the names of the bride and groom, the names of their witnesses and the date of the marriage. Marriages normally took place in the bride s home and were recorded in the local parish register. Though parish registers can prove useful, they often can be incomplete and inaccurate as well. There were no legislative incentives for the church to maintain accurate and complete records, and there is the factor of human error to consider as well. Basically there are three things which combine to make the registers difficult to decipher, they are: Poor physical condition of the records (dampness and poor quality paper have contributed to their deterioration over the years). Illegible handwriting. Some written in Latin

46 Using Parish Records While parish records can be very fruitful in yielding family information, they can be difficult and frustrating to use because of the reasons mentioned above. Using them however, has been made easier over the past decade. Many parish records have been indexed and digitalized to allow easy access for the genealogist. The National Library of Ireland has also microfilmed most and has made them available to the public at their site in Dublin. Some registers involve getting permission in the form of written consent from the parish priest before you can access them, their contact information can be found in The Catholic Directory which is published annually and can be found in most libraries. In Northern Ireland the Public Record Office has copies of the Catholic registers for its counties. Because the parish registers are not public records, they have not been made available online, however the National Library has a Family History information leaflet entitled Parish Registers in the National Library of Ireland which can be downloaded from their website at:

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48 Land Commission Records The Land Commission was designed and developed to fix fair rents where disputes existed between landlords and tenants. There are an estimated six million documents in its archives which are arranged by county and filed in volumes. The Land Commission was also entrusted with making loans from public funds to tenants who wished to purchase the farms on which they toiled and resided. Over time, this actually became its main function and the bulk of its archive is related to the purchase of land. As you can imagine, this vast archive has the potential to be a genealogical goldmine. How it Functioned When a tenant desired to purchase land from his landlord, the estate was first examined by surveyors from the Land Commission. They recorded the names of the tenants and the acreage of the land they wished to purchase and prepared maps which showed the boundaries of the surrounding farms. Following the survey and its inspection, a report was drawn up for each estate. These documents certified the value of the land and therefore deemed it suitable security for the loan required to purchase it. They also showed the amount of rent paid by each tenant and the annuity required by the Land Commission after the purchase was secured.

49 What the Collection Contains Documents of title form a major part of the Land Commission assortment of records, and consist of a description of the lands being sold. The collection also contains deeds, wills, mortgages and other documents as such as sureties and witness statements. Some documents date back to the 1600 s and if nothing else can be of great historical interest to browse. Documents of purchase were the legal instruments which transferred ownership of the lands from landlord to tenant and may be of interest if your ancestor lived in the country. Where to Find Them To access the records of the Land Commission it is necessary to request written permission from the Keeper of Records, Land Commission, Agriculture House, Kildare St, Dublin. You will have to name the estate you are interested in researching and schedule an appointment to view the material. The facility is not especially geared to suit researchers and can be tedious and long-winded. A better option is to browse the Land Commission Reports housed at the National Library. A special survey was done on the Commission records during the 1970 s, the end result being a report written up on each estate. These reports are bound and indexed, arranged alphabetically, and are broken down into baronies within counties.

50 The National Library has a collection of manuscripts such as the Gormanston Papers - a collection of estate and family papers of the Preston family of Gormanston, in counties Meath and Dublin from These documents contain original material related to the estates of many Irish families and can be downloaded for free at:

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52 Griffith s Valuation In 1844 the Lord Lieutenant instructed Richard Griffith to pursue an evaluation of every individual tenement in Ireland, no matter the size. Through this undertaking, valuers would attempt to calculate the net annual value of every Irish holding by assessing the annual rental value and subtracting necessary costs such as insurance and maintenance. Agricultural land was valued by assessing the worth of its yield for a year. These valuations were quite detailed, and information such as the quality of the soil and market access was taken down. Of course this information was all for the sake of taxation rate calculation, so was very thorough and complete. Completed in 1865, Griffith s Valuation is most likely the richest source of genealogical information regarding Ireland in the nineteenth century. The valuation is quite conveniently documented, being broken into three different sections. There are first the notebooks of the original valuers that give incredibly detailed information on such things as building dimensions and sturdiness, soil quality, and the tenancy conditions. Secondly there is the government print-out of the valuation consisting of more than 200 volumes, and lastly there are the cancelled books which document changes in the ownership and tenancy agreements from the time of the original valuation right up till the present.