Researching Irish Ancestors: an introduction to the sources and the archives

Ulster Historical Foundation Charity Registration No. NIC100280

Interest in researching Irish ancestors has never been greater. Given ’s history of emigration, it is hardly surprising to find that around the world tens of millions of people have a family connection with the island. Much of this interest comes from Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. What follows is a very basic introduction to researching Irish ancestors. It highlights what the major sources are and where they can be found. Prior to 1922 Ireland was under one jurisdiction and so where we refer to Ireland we mean the entire island. Where we are referring specifically to or the we will try to make this clear.

Some background information their own family. In nearly every family there is at Exploding a myth least one member with an encyclopaedic A popular misconception about researching Irish knowledge of who married who and how many ancestors is that it is a fruitless exercise because so children they had and where they lived etc., etc. many records were destroyed. There is no denying Collect as much information as possible on names, that the loss of so many records in the destruction dates and places relating to your family; write it of the Public Record Office, , in 1922 was a down and begin to plot out the skeleton of a catastrophe as far as historical and genealogical family tree. Occasionally wrong information may research is concerned. Three main categories of be given, yet it is surprising just how often an record were destroyed in 1922: elderly person’s reminiscences prove to be an accurate recollection of the facts. A family Bible is  Virtually all census returns, 1821–51 another possible source of information on your  The registers from over 1,000 Church of ancestors. Gathering this information before you Ireland parishes visit the archives can save a great deal of time.  Virtually all original wills probated before Once you find out what you do know you will 1900 then be aware of the gaps and will have a clearer idea of what you should be looking for. Many other records, including records relating to government and the courts, were also lost. The internet However, not destroyed in 1922 were the registers The internet has transformed genealogy around from some 600 Church of Ireland parishes as well the world and Ireland is no exception. To list all as church records for all the other denominations the websites that deal with Irish genealogy would in Ireland. Neither were official records of births, be impossible as they seem to be increasing almost deaths and marriages destroyed. Since 1922 the by the day. A website providing a fairly work of archivists to gather records of historical comprehensive listing of internet sites relating to importance has resulted in a vast amount of Irish genealogy is www.cyndislist.com/uk/irl. material being made available for the genealogical researcher to peruse. Some websites focus on a particular county or district and contain extensive lists of digitised Getting started sources, while others concentrate on a particular As is the case anywhere, the best way for someone family. Many of the genealogical centres affiliated to begin researching their Irish ancestry is within to the Irish Family History Foundation have made

1 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com their records available on a subscription basis at for maintenance of the poor. They were named www.rootsireland.ie. after a large town. The same districts later became used as General Register Districts. Administrative divisions The following are the main units of administration Province in Ireland: Provinces are composed of groups of counties. There are four provinces in Ireland: Ulster in the Barony north, Leinster in the east, Munster in the south, A unit used in Ireland between the sixteenth and and Connacht (Connaught) in the west. nineteenth centuries for administrative (census, taxation, and legal) purposes. Often drawn on pre- Townland existing Gaelic divisions, baronies consisted of This is the smallest administrative territorial unit in large groupings of townlands within a county. The Ireland, varying in size from a single acre to over 1891 census was the last to use the barony as an 7,000 acres. Originating in the older Gaelic administrative unit. dispensation, townlands were used as the basis of leases in the estate system, and subsequently to County assess valuations and tithes in the eighteenth and There are 32 counties in Ireland, six of which are nineteenth centuries. They survive as important now in Northern Ireland. The county system as a markers of local identity. form of territorial division was introduced into Ireland shortly after the Norman Conquest in the The archives late twelfth century. The creation of counties or A listing of the principal archives in the island of shires was gradual, however, and the present Ireland will be found at the end. The most arrangement of county boundaries was not important in the Republic of Ireland are the finalised in Ulster until the early seventeenth National Archives of Ireland, the National century. of Ireland and the General Register Office. An indispensible book is Guide to Irish , Parish Archives and Genealogical Centres by Robert K. This territorial division refers to both civil and O’Neill (3rd edition, 2013) which provides contact ecclesiastical units. Civil parishes largely follow the details, as well as summary information on pattern that was established in medieval times. collections held by the main archives in Ireland. Ecclesiastical parishes do not always coincide with The abbreviations used in this article for the main civil parish boundaries, however. Following the archives are: Reformation in the sixteenth century, the Church of Ireland more or less maintained the pre- GROI – General Register Office of Ireland Reformation arrangement. Church of Ireland GRONI – General Register Office of Northern parishes are, therefore, largely coterminous with Ireland civil parishes. When the Catholic Church began its NAI – National Archives of Ireland institutional re-emergence in the late eighteenth NLI – of Ireland and nineteenth centuries, it constructed a new PRONI – Public Record Office of Northern network of parishes which did not necessarily Ireland follow the civil parish network. Civil registration Poor Law Union Civil registers of births, marriages and deaths Under the Irish Poor Law Act of 1838 provide basic family history information. commissioners were empowered to “unite so However, their usefulness for the genealogist will many townlands as they think fit to be a union for depend on the period being researched. Civil or the relief of the destitute poor”. A Union was a state registration of all births, deaths and marriages group of parishes usually centred on a market began in Ireland on 1 January 1864. Non-Catholic town, where a workhouse might be built, with marriages, including those conducted in a parishes and townlands as subdivisions. Rates, government registry office, were required in law to land based taxes, were collected within these areas be registered from 1 April 1845. Civil registration

2 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com followed the administrative divisions created by Death certificates the Poor Law Act of 1838. Under this act the Civil records of death in Ireland are rather country had been divided into over 130 Poor Law uninformative in comparison to other countries. Unions. The Poor Law Unions were subdivided The name of the deceased is given together with into dispensary districts, each with its own medical the date, place and cause of death, marital status, officer. Under civil registration the area covered by the age at death, and occupation. The name and a Poor Law Union was used as the basis of each address of the informant is also given. Usually this superintendent registrar’s district, while the is the person present at the time of the death; this dispensary districts corresponded to the registrar’s may be a close family member. districts. In some cases the medical officer also served as the registrar. In overall charge of The indexes registration was the Registrar General in Dublin. Indexes to civil marriages 1845–63 are hand- Certified copies of all registers compiled locally written, but thereafter all indexes are printed. were sent to his office and, from these, master From 1864 to 1877 indexes for births, marriages indexes covering the whole of Ireland were and deaths consist of a single yearly volume produced. covering the whole of Ireland. From 1878 the annual indexes are arranged on a quarterly basis. Birth certificates In each index the surnames will be arranged Birth certificates record the date and place of birth alphabetically, followed by the first names. The of the child. Normally the name of the child is also name of the superintendent registrar’s district is given, but in some cases only the sex is given, i.e. also given, followed by the volume number and the child had not been given a name by the time page number of the master copies of the registers the birth was registered. The name and residence in Dublin. In the indexes to deaths the age of the of the father is given. Usually this will be the same deceased will be provided. as the place of birth of the child, but in some cases it will show that the father was working abroad or These civil registration indexes are now available in another part of Ireland when the child was online through www.familysearch.org from 1845 born. The father’s occupation is also given. The to 1922 for all of Ireland and up to 1958 for the mother’s maiden name is provided as well as her Republic of Ireland. They are also available on the first name. Finally, the name and address of the government website www.irishgenealogy.ie. This informant is given, together with his or her website contains the names of both bride and qualification to sign. This will usually be the father groom on marriage entries from 1882 and the or mother or someone present at the birth, such as mother’s maiden name and the child’s date of a midwife or even the child’s grandmother. birth from 1900.

Marriage certificates The General Register of Ireland Civil records of marriage normally give fuller (www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/General-Register- information than birth and death certificates, and Office.aspx) are the most useful of civil records. Information The administrative headquarters of the General on the individuals getting married includes their Register Office in the Republic of Ireland is now name, age, status, and occupation. The names and in Roscommon, but there is a research facility occupations of their fathers are also given. The open to members of the public in Werburgh Street church, the officiating minister and the witnesses in Dublin. The GROI holds master copies of to the ceremony are named. In most cases the births, death and marriages for all of Ireland up to exact age of the parties is not given, and the entry 1921 and thereafter for the Republic of Ireland will simply read ‘full age’ (i.e. over 21) or ‘minor’ only. (i.e. under 21). If the father of one of the parties was no longer living, this may be indicated in the General Register Office of Northern Ireland marriage certificate by the word ‘deceased’ or by (www.nidirect.gov.uk/gro) leaving the space blank, but in many cases it is not. The General Register Office of Northern Ireland in holds the original birth and death registers recorded by the local district registrars for

3 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com Northern Ireland from 1864. Marriage registers for Presbyterianism came to Ireland from Northern Ireland are also available from 1845 for Scotland in the early seventeenth century. It did non-Catholic marriages and from 1864 for all not become an organised denomination until the marriages. second half of the seventeenth century, however. The distribution of Presbyterian churches in GRONI has now made historic records (births Ulster is generally a reflection of the pattern of over 100 years, marriages over 75 years, deaths Scottish settlement in the province. As well as the over 50 years) available online at main Presbyterian Church in Ireland there are two https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk/ for a fee. smaller historic denominations, the Non- Subscribing Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Church records Methodism emerged in Ireland in the Prior to the commencement of civil registration eighteenth century as a result of John Wesley’s the main sources of family history information are many visits to the island. To begin with the church registers. majority of Methodists belonged to the Established Church and they remained members Denominations of their own local churches. Therefore they The single largest denomination in Ireland is the continued to go to the parish church for the Roman Catholic Church. Following the administration of marriages, burials and baptisms. Reformation in Ireland the Catholic Church went In 1816 a split developed between the Primitive through a lengthy period when its activities were Wesleyan Methodists, who retained their links severely curtailed. The Penal Laws were a series of with the Established Church, and the Wesleyan enactments of the late seventeenth and early Methodists, who allowed their ministers to eighteenth centuries designed to remove the rights administer baptisms. of Catholics to public office and to careers in certain professions. In spite of the Penal Laws, The information found in church records can be Catholic priests and bishops operated freely in categorised as follows: most areas. During the eighteenth century the Catholic Church was able to set up diocesan and Baptismal registers parochial structures. It is important for family The basic information provided in a baptismal historians to bear in mind that Roman Catholic register is the name of the child, the name of the parishes generally do not conform to civil father and the date of baptism. The mother’s parishes. Many Catholic parishes have more than name will often be given as will a specific location. one church. Sometimes only one register was kept The occupation of the father and the date of birth for the entire parish, but at other times each of the child may also be provided. Roman church had its own registers. Catholic registers will normally give the names of The Church of Ireland is the largest the sponsors of the child. Protestant denomination on the island of Ireland. Until 1870 it was the established or state church Marriage registers and enjoyed various privileges in consequence of Prior to the standardisation of marriage registers this. The Church of Ireland was required to keep after 1845 for non-Catholics and 1864 for proper records of baptisms, marriages and burials Catholics, these will give in their simplest form the from 1634, but very few registers survive from the date of the marriage and the names of the bride seventeenth century. In general, however, the and groom. The residence and the name of the records of the Church of Ireland start much father of each party are often provided. The earlier than those of other Protestant names of the witnesses may also be given. denominations and of the Roman Catholic Church. The Church of Ireland is organised into Burial registers parishes which in general conform to civil Burial registers can be fairly uninformative, with parishes. In 1922 over 1,000 Church of Ireland the name of the deceased, the date of burial and registers were lost in Dublin in the destruction of occasionally the occupation and age at death the Public Record Office of Ireland. given. The deaths of children will usually include

4 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com the name of the father, while the burial of a wife Church of Ireland parishes. may include her husband’s name. Many Catholic www.library.ireland.anglican.org/ ‘burial’ registers are actually registers recording payments made at the funeral of the deceased. The National Archives of Ireland holds Church of Ireland registers on microfilm: Vestry minute books www.nationalarchives.ie/PDF/CofIMicrofilms.pdf Vestry minute books record the deliberations of the parish vestry and will be found, where they Finally the Presbyterian Historical Society of survive, with the Church of Ireland records for a Ireland holds some original Presbyterian Church particular parish. The role of the vestry included registers not available elsewhere: the upkeep of the Church of Ireland church, the www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com/ maintenance of roads in the parish and the care of the destitute and abandoned children. The money Gravestone inscriptions and burial records to pay for these things was raised through a cess The value of gravestone inscriptions for ancestral or tax on the land in the parish. Vestry minute research has long been recognised. The discovery books are a rich source of information on life in a of a single gravestone may provide more parish in bygone times. Occasionally they will information on the history of a family than could include a list of the names of the parishioners otherwise be gleaned from hours of searching drawn up for taxation purposes. through documentary sources. A visit to the graveyard in which your ancestors are buried is, Most surviving church records for Northern therefore, an essential part of compiling your Ireland prior to c. 1880 are available in PRONI, family tree. Discovering the graveyard in which usually on microfilm, but sometimes as originals your ancestors are buried is not necessarily or photocopies. Some registers are still in local straightforward. They may be buried in the custody. Generally these post-date the graveyard adjoining the church to which your introduction of civil registration and it is usually family belongs. Alternatively they may be buried in not necessary to check these if the details of the a graveyard no longer in use or adjoining another birth or marriage are available elsewhere. See the church. Burial registers kept by a church are one comprehensive Guide to Church Records which can way of finding the place of burial, but as was be downloaded from the PRONI website explained above, these have limitations and do not www.proni.gov.uk/guide_to_church_records.pdf survive for every graveyard. In many of the older graveyards it is not unusual to find all The National Library of Ireland has microfilms of denominations buried. pre-1880 Roman Catholic registers for the The information recorded on a gravestone majority of parishes in Ireland, these are now varies considerably. Some gravestones will record available online: www.nli.ie however you do need the dates of death of several generations of one to know the parish as they are not indexed. family. Others may simply record the family surname. In most graveyards there will be at least If you do not know the parish or area, then it one gravestone that has an overseas connection, would be best to begin with the subscription- recording the name of a family member who had based website www.rootsireland.ie which has died abroad. Ages of death on gravestones should transcribed over 80% of all pre-1900 Roman be treated with some caution as they are often Catholic records for 30 of the 32 counties in guesses or have been rounded up. Nonetheless Ireland as well as many Church of Ireland and they provide a basis for working out the year of Presbyterian records. The government website birth which can be useful when it comes to www.irishgenealogy.ie has transcribed and looking for a birth certificate or record of baptism. digitised records for Churches in Counties Cork, The Ulster Historical Foundation has over the Carlow and Kerry as well as Dublin City. recordings of over 50,000 gravestones in Northern Ireland. These are available on its website: The Representative Church Body Library in www.ancestryireland.com/family- Dublin holds the original registers of many records/gravestone-inscriptions/. Another useful resource is the Foundation’s History from Headstones

5 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com website: www.historyfromheadstones.com which Ireland, it was necessary to pay for a search to be includes a series of maps showing the location of made of the 1841 and 1851 censuses in order to graveyards in Northern Ireland. prove their entitlement to the pension. The forms submitted by the claimants include such Census records information as the names of parents, location at The first census was held in Ireland in 1821 and the time of the 1841 or 1851 census, and age at the thereafter every ten years until 1911. time of the claim and during the relevant census Unfortunately, the earliest census that survives in year. Individual application forms completed by or its entirety for the whole of Ireland is the 1901 on behalf of the applicant are known as ‘green census. Census returns 1821–51 were almost forms’. The census search forms are now entirely lost in 1922 in the destruction of the accessible via the website of the NAI: Public Record Office in Dublin. Census returns http://censussearchforms.nationalarchives.ie/sear 1861–91 were completely destroyed by ch/cs/home.jsp. government order in the early twentieth century. Another form of evidence related to the old age pension returns are ‘form 37s’, which were 1901 census submitted by local pensions offices. These include On 31 March 1901, a census was taken of the the applicant’s name, stated age, parents’ names whole island of Ireland. The original returns are and address at the time of the census. Details of deposited at the National Archives in Dublin; the search were added to the form, and each claim microfilm copies of the returns for Northern was bound according to barony in a series of Ireland are available at PRONI under reference volumes that are now deposited in PRONI. MIC/354 but are also now available for free Josephine Masterson has published two volumes through the National Archives of Ireland’s website based on surviving old age pension claims. www.census.nationalarchives.ie. The information in the census is listed under the following The Ulster Covenant, 1912 headings: name; relationship to the head of the Prime Minister H.H. Asquith introduced the Third household; religion; literacy; occupation; age; Home Rule Bill to the House of Commons on 11 marital status; county of birth (or country if born April 1912. It provided for a parliament in Dublin outside Ireland); and ability to speak English or with limited powers, and it met with strong Irish. Every town, village and townland is oppositions from Ulster Unionists who saw it as represented and those inhabitants who were at the first step to Irish independence. On ‘Ulster home on 31 March 1901 are listed. Day’, 28 September 1912, the Ulster Covenant was signed by 237,368 men and 234,046 women who 1911 census pledged themselves to use ‘all means which may The 1911 census was taken on 1 April of that year be found necessary to defeat the present and contains additional information including the conspiracy to set up a Home Rule Parliament in number of years a wife was married, the number Ireland’. The Ulster Covenant Signatories of 1912 of children born and the number still living. are an invaluable, if underused, genealogical Microfilms of the original census returns can be resource and has been included here because it viewed at the National Archives in Dublin. Again acts as an early twentieth-century census this census is also now available for free through substitute. Obviously it will be of more interest to the National Archives of Ireland’s website those with ancestors of a Unionist persuasion. www.census.nationalarchives.ie This source is more than simply a list of names and includes street addresses, townlands, etc. The Old age pension claims signatures have been indexed and digitised by It is worth checking the old age pension search PRONI and a searchable database is available on forms, as they contain extracts from the 1841 and its website www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni 1851 censuses, the originals of which were almost completely destroyed. The old age pension was Republic of Ireland’s Military Census, 1922 introduced on 1 January 1909 for those over A census of the National Forces of the Republic seventy years of age. For many born before 1864, of Ireland was taken at midnight on the night of when the state registration of births began in the 12/13 November 1922. This census is now

6 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com available online at Poor Law Union within counties, and then into http://census.militaryarchives.ie. Information parishes and townlands. There is an index at the includes name, age, marital status, religion and front of each volume which enables searchers to home address of the individual as well as their identify the page or pages in which a specific rank and corps, the date and place of their townland may be found. The Householders’ Index attestation and the name and address of their next can be used as a guide to the surnames listed in the of kin. Griffith’s Valuation. The valuer’s annotated set of Ordnance Survey maps showing the location of Records relating to the occupation of land every property is available at PRONI (VAL/2A). These enable a researcher to identify the exact Tithe Applotment Books, 1823–38 location of the house in which an ancestor may In 1823 the Composition Act was passed which have lived. An index to Griffith’s Valuation for all stipulated that henceforth all tithes due to the of Ireland is available on CD-ROM from Irish Established Church, the Church of Ireland, were World in Coalisland, County Tyrone. Griffith’s to be paid in money rather than in kind as they Valuation is now available for free online (with previously could have been. This necessitated a accompanying maps) at www.askaboutireland.ie complete valuation of all tithable land in Ireland, the results of which are contained in manuscript Valuation revision books, from c. 1864 form in the tithe applotment books arranged by The manuscript valuation books were updated on parish. The tithe applotment books contain the a regular basis. The so-called ‘cancelled books’ name of the tithe-payer, the size of his farm and consist of manuscript notebooks kept by the the amount of tithe he paid. valuation office and updated to take account of Copies of these for Northern Ireland are changes in tenure. When a change of occupancy available in the Public Record Office of Northern occurred, the name of the lessee or householder Ireland and for the Republic of Ireland in the was crossed off and the new owner’s name written National Archives of Ireland. The National above it, while the year was noted on the right- Archives has recently digitised their tithe hand side of the page. Different-coloured ink was applotment books which are now available often used to differentiate between years with a through www.genealogy.nationalarchives.ie/ key at the start of each book to indicate which colour went with each year. The Primary or Griffith’s Valuation, 1848–64 The years in which changes in occupancy took The 1848–64 valuation gives a complete list of place help to establish significant dates in family occupiers of land, tenements and houses. This history, such as dates of death, sale or emigration. Primary Valuation of Ireland, better known as On rare occasions there can even be a comment to Griffith’s Valuation after the Commissioner of the effect that a family had emigrated or that an Valuation, Sir Richard Griffith, is arranged by individual had died. Changes in the valuation of county, within counties by Poor Law Union buildings can indicate when a new house was built division, and within Unions by parish. It includes or when the existing one was abandoned. the following information: the name of the Valuation revision books for Northern Ireland are townland; the name of the householder or now available online at leaseholder; the name of the person from whom www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni. the property was leased; a description of the Books for the Republic of Ireland are only property; its acreage; and finally the valuation of available in the Valuation Office in Lower Abbey the land and buildings. Street, Dublin, although these are being digitised Griffith’s Valuation is of particular interest to and will be made available in the office (Counties anyone wishing to trace their family tree, due to Kerry, Mayo & Tipperary and Dublin City are the fact that so little of the nineteenth century already accessible digitally in the Valuation Office). census returns has survived. It is available in manuscript form at PRONI (VAL/2B). A bound Landed estate records and printed summary version is available on the Until the early part of the twentieth century, most shelves of the Public Search Room, PRONI, and of the land in Ireland was possessed by at major libraries. These volumes are arranged by landowners whose estates ranged in size from

7 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com 1,000 acres or less to, in some cases, over 100,000. a parish or townland at a certain date. The Nearly all of the farmers in Ireland were tenants principal sources from this period are listed below: on such estates. The records generated by the management of landed estates are a major source Hearth money rolls, 1660s of genealogical information. The best collection of In the 1660s the government introduced a tax on Irish estate papers is housed in the Public Record hearths as a means of raising revenue. The returns, Office of Northern Ireland. A two-volume Guide to arranged by parish and usually with townland Landed Estate Papers, covering the six counties of locations, list the names of all householders paying Northern Ireland, is available for consultation in this tax and survive for half the counties in Ireland the Public Search Room. It is arranged by county with coverage most complete in Ulster (in full or with the estate collections listed alphabetically in part for all counties except Down). Surviving according to the name of the landowning family. A hearth money rolls will be found in PRONI. A brief synopsis of what is available is provided for searchable database of names from this source is each estate collection along with reference available at: numbers. PRONI also holds estate collections www.ancestryireland.com/scotsinulster from other counties in Ireland, notably Donegal and Monaghan. For several of the larger estates The ‘census of Protestant householders’, 1740 there are excellent records. In the Republic of What has generally been termed a ‘census of Ireland the best collection of estate papers is in the Protestant householders’ was compiled in 1740. National Library. The catalogues of many of the The returns were made by the collectors of the estate collections can be downloaded as PDFs hearth money and it has, therefore, been suggested from its website www.nli.ie that this ‘census’ is actually a hearth money roll Some categories of estate papers are more and for some areas includes Catholics as well. It is useful to genealogists than others. Title deeds are no more than a list of names arranged by county, concerned with the legal ownership of an estate, barony and parish and, reflecting its supervision by and are generally of limited value to genealogists. the inspector responsible for collecting hearth The same can be said of mortgages. Wills and money, it is occasionally divided into ‘walks’. Some marriage settlements usually refer only to the parishes are also divided into townlands. The members of the landowner’s family. However, original records of this survey were destroyed in rentals, leases, lease books, maps and Dublin in 1922, but a volume containing correspondence can all be extremely useful to transcripts of the original returns is available in those searching for their ancestors within landed PRONI. A searchable database of names from this estate records. source is available at: www.ancestryireland.com/scotsinulster Early sources The further one goes back in time the more The religious census of 1766 difficult it becomes to discover precise details In March and April 1766, Church of Ireland about family history. Sources specific to the rectors were instructed by the government to seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are rarely compile complete returns of all householders in more than lists of names, sometimes arranged by their respective parishes, showing their religion, as townland and parish. They will usually not provide between Church of Ireland (Episcopalian), Roman information on family relationships, and because Catholic (termed ‘Papists’ in the returns) and they almost always give the name of the head of Presbyterians (or Dissenters), and giving an the household nearly all of the names will be those account of any Roman Catholic clergy active in of men. Occasionally two men with the same their area. Some of the more diligent rectors listed name will be found in the one townland and may every townland and every household, but many be distinguished with the words, ‘senior’ and drew up only numerical totals of the population. ‘junior’, in which case it is reasonable to infer that All the original returns were destroyed in the they are father and son. At the same time, despite Public Record Office in 1922, but extensive their limitations sources from the seventeenth and transcripts survive. Bound volumes of these eighteenth centuries are useful if they can be used transcripts can be found at PRONI as well as to demonstrate that a particular name occurred in

8 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com online under their Name Search database collections, and the papers of private genealogists. www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni There is a typed index to surviving testamentary papers in the Public Search Room of PRONI. Petition of Protestant Dissenters, 1775 This index is now available under their Name The Petition of Protestant Dissenters is a list of Search database www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni names of Dissenters on either a parish or a The testamentary authority of the Church of congregational basis which were submitted to the Ireland was abolished by the Probate Act of 1857. government in October and November 1775. Testamentary matters were brought under civil Most of them relate to the province of Ulster. A jurisdiction and exercised through District Probate bound volume containing a typescript of the Registries and a Principal Registry in Dublin. The petitions can be found in PRONI as well as online wills of wealthier members of society tended to be under their Name Search database probated at the Principal Registry. The district www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni registries retained transcripts of the wills that they proved and of the administrations intestate that The Flaxgrowers’ List, 1796 they granted before the annual transfer of the In 1796 as part of a government initiative to original records (20 or more years old) to the encourage the linen industry in Ireland, free Public Record Office of Ireland in Dublin. The spinning wheels or looms were granted to farmers original wills were destroyed in Dublin in 1922 but who planted a certain acreage of their holdings the transcript copies in will books survived. These with flax. The names of over 56,000 recipients of are now on deposit in PRONI and the National these awards have survived in printed form Archives. Bound annual indexes called ‘calendars’ arranged by county and parish. A photocopy of are available at PRONI and the National Archives. the original volume is available at PRONI These calendars are of value to genealogists since (reference T3419). A searchable database of names they provide the name, address, occupation and from this source is available on date of death of the testator as well as the names, www.ancestryireland.com/scotsinulster addresses and occupations of the individual or individuals to whom probate was granted, the value of estate and the place and date of probate. Wills and testamentary papers Each calendar covers a single year and the entries Prior to 1858 the Church of Ireland was are in alphabetical order. The Ulster Historical responsible for administering all testamentary Foundation has an index to the calendars covering affairs. Ecclesiastical or Consistorial Courts in the period 1858–1900 on its website each diocese were responsible for granting probate (www.ancestryireland.com). This index gives the and conferring on the executors the power to date of death and county of residence. administer the estate. Unfortunately, nearly all PRONI has in its custody all wills for the original wills probated before 1858 were destroyed districts of Belfast and Londonderry from 1900 to, in Dublin in 1922. However, indexes to these at present 2004, and Armagh from 1900 until it destroyed wills do exist and are available on the closed in 1921. After 1900 the original wills and shelves of the Search Rooms at PRONI and the their associated papers are available filed in a National Archives in Dublin. These are useful, for separate envelope for each testator. If the person although the will cannot now be produced, the did not make a will there may be letters of index contains the name and residence of the administration that give the name, residence and testator and the date that the will was either made occupation of the deceased as well as the name or probated. Occasionally the testator’s occupation and address of the person or persons appointed to is given. Because the Church of Ireland was administer the estate. responsible for administering wills, the indexes are The will indexes and summaries (totalling arranged by diocese, not by county. Despite the 400,000 entries) from 1858–1965 are currently loss of virtually all pre-1858 wills, there are available online at www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni. numerous abstracts, extracts and duplicate copies This website also has scanned images from the of the originals. In PRONI alone there are some copy will books of wills from 1858 until around 13,000 of these deriving from a wide variety of 1900. sources including landed estate papers, solicitors’

9 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com School records available as a database on its website A state-run system of education was established in www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni Ireland in 1831. Prior to this (and for some time after it) there were several different organisations Board of Guardians records and institutions providing education in Ireland. The new English system of Poor Law These included the Capel Street Association for administration was applied to Ireland in 1838. Discountenancing Vice, the Kildare Street Society, Destitute poor who were previously granted relief the London Hibernian Society as well as the at parish level were to be accommodated in new different churches. From 1831 National Schools workhouses, where conditions were to be as were built with the aid of the Commissioners of unpleasant as was consistent with health. Ireland National Education and local trustees. Between was divided into 137 Poor Law Unions. These 1832 and 1870 about 2,500 national schools were ignored traditional divisions, such as the county, established in Ulster. The records of over 1,500 barony and parish, and were centred on a market schools in Northern Ireland are held at PRONI. town where a workhouse was built. The Of particular interest are the enrolment registers. management of the workhouses was the These record the full name of the pupil, his or her responsibility of the Boards of Guardians. In the date of birth (or age at entry), religion, father’s minute books kept by the Guardians are details of address and occupation (but unfortunately not his the day-to-day running of the workhouse, name), details of attendance and academic including information on many of the inmates and progress and the name of the school previously those employed in the workhouse as teachers, attended. A space is also provided in the registers nurses, chaplains, etc. Indoor registers provides for general comments, which might tell where the the names of those who were admitted to the children went to work after leaving school or if workhouses. The information recorded also they emigrated. Some registers have an index at includes the townland, age, spouse’s name and the front that can greatly ease searching. As they religion of each inmate. Outdoor relief registers include the age of pupils, school registers can be include similar information to the indoor registers, cross-referenced with other records such as but concern those who received assistance without baptismal records or birth certificates. going into the workhouse. Vaccination registers are another useful source among the Board of Election records Guardians records. Surviving Board of Guardians Election records come in various forms. Registers records for Northern Ireland are deposited at of freeholders list the names and addresses of PRONI under reference BG. Access to some of individuals entitled to vote at parliamentary these records can be a problem, as there is a 100- elections. Poll books (often in printed form before year closure rule on all documents in the Boards of the Ballot Act of 1872) list the names of voters Guardians papers. and the candidates they voted for. Until the late nineteenth century the qualification for voting was Printed sources generally linked to the tenure of land, and only a Ordnance Survey memoirs small minority of men had the right to vote. In Ordnance Survey memoirs provide a great deal of Ireland, from 1727 to 1793, only Protestant men background information on the character and with a 40-shilling freehold had the right to vote. habits of the people who lived in Ireland during Between 1793 and 1829 both Protestants and the early part of the nineteenth century. The Roman Catholics with 40-shilling freeholds had memoirs were written descriptions intended to votes, although a Catholic still could not become a accompany the original Ordnance Survey maps, member of parliament. The 40-shilling freehold containing information that could not be fitted on was property worth 40 shillings a year above the to them. They are a unique source for the history rent, and either owned outright or leased during of the northern half of Ireland before the Great the lives of named individuals. Many important Famine, as they document the landscape and and indeed prominent people had no vote because situation, buildings and antiquities, land-holdings they leased their property on the wrong terms. and population, employment and livelihoods of Surviving electoral records are available at PRONI the parishes. The surveyors recorded the habits of and most of them have been digitised and are the people, their food, drink, dress and customs.

10 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com Details of ruined churches, prehistoric monuments Useful books and standing stones were also included. The Numerous books on Irish genealogy have been Ordnance Survey memoirs were published in 40 written. Probably the best general guide is John volumes by the Institute of Irish Studies at The Grenham’s Tracing your Irish Ancestors (2006); the Queen’s University of Belfast, with an additional fourth edition of which was published in 2012. index volume covering the entire series. These Another useful guide is Tracing Irish Ancestors by volumes are available through the Ulster Historical MacConghail and Gorry (1997). Foundation’s online bookstore: Other volumes deal more closely with a www.booksireland.org.uk specific area, period or theme. Maxwell’s Tracing your ancestors in Northern Ireland (1997) is primarily Street directories concerned with records in PRONI. He is also the Street directories contain a great deal of author of two county guides: Researching Armagh information on the gentry, the professional classes, Ancestors (2000) & Researching Down Ancestors merchants, etc. They include information on even (2004). For County Derry/Londonderry there is the smallest of market towns and ports in Ireland. Bill Macafee’s CD-Rom: Researching Derry & Beginning with a description of the town and Londonderry Ancestors: a practical guide for the family and surrounding countryside, the names and addresses local historian (2010). Guides for counties Clare, of the local butchers, pawnbrokers, blacksmiths Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Limerick, and coach-builders are given, as well as the various Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath have places of worship, with the names of the local been published by Flyleaf Press. Dr Maxwell has ministers, etc., and the location of local schools. more recently published two additional guides: Street directories can therefore be useful if you Tracing Your Northern Irish Ancestors: A Guide for wish to find out which church or school your Family Historians; and How to Trace Your Irish ancestor attended. The names and addresses of the Ancestors: An Essential Guide to Researching and local members of parliament, magistrates, Poor Documenting the Family Histories of Ireland's People. Law Guardians and town commissioners are also William Roulston’s Researching Scots-Irish included in many street directories. In fact the only Ancestors: the essential genealogical guide to early modern classes that are excluded from all directories are Ulster, 1600–1800 (2005), also by the Ulster the small tenant farmers, landless labourers and Historical Foundation, provides a comprehensive servants. overview of sources for studying family history in There is a good collection of street directories the 17th and 18th centuries, including a summary in , the Public Record listing of sources for virtually every parish in Office of Northern Ireland, and the Linen Hall Ulster. An indispensable book is Irish Libraries, Library. PRONI has digitised all its pre-1900 street Museums, Archives and Genealogical Centres: A Visitors’ directories and they are available through its Guide by Robert K. O’Neill (3rd edition, 2013) website www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni. which provides contact details and summary information on collections in main archives in Newspapers Ireland. Newspapers are an important source of family Useful books on Irish surnames include history information. The major drawback with Edward MacLysaght’s The Surnames of Ireland (1957, using them is usually the lack of an index of Irish Academic Press, numerous reprints), names. Of particular interest to genealogists are considered to be the standard reference work on birth, death and marriage notices. In many cases a this subject. Although dated but still of value, is newspaper notice may be the only record of one Rev. Patrick Woulfe’s Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall ((Irish of these events if it took place prior to civil Names and Surnames), 1923, reprinted 2014). For registration and if a church record has not surnames in the province of Ulster, researchers survived. For a full list of newspapers printed in should check Bell’s Surnames of Ulster (The Ireland with dates of publication and availability Blackstaff Press, 1988, several reprints). Given the visit the following website: preponderance of Scottish names in Ulster, www.nli.ie/en/catalogues-and-databases-printed- George F. Black’s Surnames of Scotland (1st edition newspapers.aspx 1946, several reprints) can be helpful.

11 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com Useful addresses OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ULSTER HISTORICAL FOUNDATION HERALD/GENEALOGICAL OFFICE Corn Exchange, 31 Gordon Street 2–3 Kildare Street Belfast, BT1 2LG Dublin 2, Ireland Email: [email protected] Website: www.nli.ie Website: www.ancestryireland.com IRISH FAMILY HISTORY FOUNDATION GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE OF Karel Kiely, Secretary IRELAND c/o Riverbank, Main St. (administrative headquarters) Newbridge, Co. Kildare, Ireland Convent Road, E-mail: [email protected] Roscommon Website: www.rootsireland.ie Website: www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/General- Register-Office.aspx VALUATION OFFICE Irish Life Centre (public research room) Abbey Street Lower, Dublin 1 Werburgh Street, Email: [email protected] Dublin 2. Website: www.valoff.ie

GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE OF REGISTRY OF DEEDS NORTHERN IRELAND Henrietta Street Oxford House Dublin 1, Ireland 49/55 Chichester Street Website: www.prai.ie/ Belfast, BT1 4HL Email: [email protected] MELLON CENTRE FOR MIGRATION Website: www.nidirect.gov.uk/gro STUDIES Ulster-American Folk Park LINEN HALL LIBRARY 2 Mellon Road, Castletown 17 Donegall Square North Omagh, Co. Tyrone, BT78 5QY Belfast, BT1 5GD Website: www.qub.ac.uk/cms Website: www.linenhall.com THE MILITARY ARCHIVES PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE OF Cathal Brugha Barracks, Rathmines NORTHERN IRELAND Dublin 6, Ireland 2 Titanic Boulevard, Telephone: +353 (0)1 804 6457 Belfast, BT3 9HQ Website: www.militaryarchives.ie/home Email: [email protected] Website: www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni THE REPRESENTATIVE BODY OF THE CHURCH OF IRELAND NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF IRELAND The Library, 14 Braemor Park, Bishop Street Rathgar, Dublin 6 Dublin 8 Website: www.ireland.anglican.org Email: [email protected] Website: www.nationalarchives.ie PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 26 College Green, NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND Belfast BT7 1LN Kildare Street www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com Dublin 2 Email: [email protected] CATHOLIC CHURCH IN IRELAND Website: www.nli.ie 36 Lower Lesson Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. www.catholicireland.net 12 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com Other useful website addresses www.nifhs.org/resources/ www.historyfromheadstones.com North of Ireland Family History Society’s website Map of graveyards in NI with case-studies. detailing publications on gravestone inscriptions and birth, marriage and death notices from local www.sinton-family-trees.com/ newspapers Gravestone inscriptions for areas of County Armagh-Quakers and other denominations www.nidirect.gov.uk/gro General Register Office, Northern Ireland www.rootsireland.ie Website for the Irish Family History Foundation www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/General-Register- (IFHF) county centres in Ireland, detailing over 20 Office.aspx million civil and church records as well as General Register Office, Ireland passenger lists. Subscription based website. www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk www.ancestryireland.com Civil records, 1855–2006, church and census IFHF centre for Counties Antrim and Down, with records for Scotland over 2 million church and civil records & 50,000 gravestone inscriptions for all of NI. www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates Free index search, charge for full inscriptions General Register Office, England and Wales www.census.nationalarchives.ie www.findmypast.co.uk/ 1911 and 1901 census online for whole of Ireland 1901 Census online for England and Wales 1911 Census online for England and Wales www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archive Irish Prison Registers, 1790–1924 s/ulster_covenant.htm Ulster Covenant online through PRONI’s website www.freebmd.org.uk Free birth, marriage and death index for England www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archive and Wales s/ecatalogue.htm PRONI’s e-catalogue to search for specific www.findmypast.com churches, schools, personal names etc Census, civil and church records. www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/ Presbyterian Historical Society’s site listing church Griffith’s Valuation, 1848–64 available free online registers only available in their library www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archive www.lennonwylie.co.uk s/will_calendars/ Certain street directories online Wills calendar summaries available through PRONI’s website, 1858–1965 www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archive s/street_directories.htm www.ulsterancestry.com/ua-free-pages.php Certain street directories online through PRONI’s Free pages of assorted information e.g. 1851 website (pre-1900) Census, Co. Antrim & Markethill Yeomanry www.ucs.louisiana.edu/bnl/ www.failteromhat.com Belfast Newsletter index, 1737–1800 1796 Flax list & Hearthmoney Rolls www.familysearch.org www.cwgc.org/ Website detailing a limited amount of church Commonwealth War Graves Commission records and the index to civil births, marriages and deaths in Ireland, 1845–1958

13 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/counti www.nationalarchives.gov.uk es/ulster/ The National Archives List of records and resources available for Ulster Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU. Counties (from John Grenham’s ‘Tracing your Irish Ancestors’) www.ballymoneyancestry.com Ballymoney ancestry www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your- research/ www.dippam.ac.uk/eppi National Archives, London (Irish soldiers were Enhanced British Parliamentary papers on Ireland part of the British Army so many records held (EPPI) there) www.eneclann.ie www.ancestryireland.com/scotsinulster/ Eneclann Hearthmoney Rolls, Muster Rolls, Protestant Householders, Flaxgrowers’ List www.college-of-arms.gov.uk College of Arms (for England, Wales & Northern www.workhouses.org.uk Ireland) Information on workhouses in Ireland and the United Kingdom www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives- sector/hmc.htm www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archive Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts s/freeholders_records Searchable freeholders registers available through www.rootsweb.com/~nirwgw PRONI’s website Northern Ireland GenWeb www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com www.catholic-hierarchy.org Useful pages on how to organise your information Catholic Hierarchy and on key records www.placenamesni.org www.irishgenealogynews.com/ Northern Ireland Placename Project Excellent blog by Claire Santry detailing new records, events & publications on Irish genealogy. www.thecore.com/seanruad/ Irish Placename website www.cyndislist.com/uk/irl Comprehensive list of genealogical sites on the www.dippam.ac.uk internet (covers every country although this link is Centre for Migration Studies database including for Ireland) British Parliamentary Papers www.sistersofmercy.ie www.irelandoldnews.com Sisters of Mercy Ireland Old News Catherine McAuley Centre, 23 Herbert Street, Dublin 2 (Note: strictly postal enquiries only) www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/ Irish ancestors (Irish Times) www.irishmethodist.org Methodist Church in Ireland www.familyhistory.ie 1 Fountainville Avenue, Belfast BT9 6AN Genealogical Society of Ireland www.libertyellisfoundation.org www.dfpni.gov.uk/land-property-services-lps American Family Immigration History Center Land and Property Services Northern Ireland www.immigrantships.net www.nidirect.gov.uk/osni Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild Ordnance Survey maps (Northern Ireland) 14 © 2016 Ulster Historical Foundation www.ancestryireland.com www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne http://gale.cengage.co.uk/state-papers- Scotland, Scandinavia & Northern European online-15091714.aspx biographical database, 1580–1707 Please note: State Papers Online, 1509–1714 is available for trial and purchase by institutions. It is www.coastguardsofyesteryear.org not available at this stage for individual purchase Coastguards of yesteryear or subscription. www.censusfinder.com/irish-census- www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie records2.htm The Bureau of Military History (1913–1921) Miscellaneous census material http://irishdeedsindex.net/index.html http://books.google.com/advanced_book_se Registry of Deeds online index project arch Google Books http://opac.oireachtas.ie/liberty/libraryHom e.do http://sources.nli.ie/ Historical documents available from the Houses The National Library of Ireland has a very detailed of the , including The Dublin Gazette database of records http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ http://registers.nli.ie/ The National Archives database including, Roman Catholic parish registers, up to 1880 Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. http://1641.tcd.ie/ http://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/ Fully searchable digital edition of the 1641 Contains the fully searchable details of records Depositions at Library, listed in the electronic catalogue of the National comprising transcripts and images of all 8,000 Records of Scotland. depositions & examinations. Online gravestone inscriptions www.jstor.org/journal/collhibe www.ancestryireland.com/family- Collectanea Hibernica (1958–2006) records/gravestone-inscriptions/ (over 50,000 NI inscriptions free index, charge for www.archiviumhibernicum.ie details) Archivium Hibernicum www.belfastcity.gov.uk/community/burialrec www.igp-web.com/tipperary/popish.htm ords/ Popish inhabitants in the barony of Ikerrin, 1750 (360,000 free records, charge for scanned image) (extracted from The Irish Genealogist, volume 4, pages 578–83. www.thebraid.com/explore-your-roots.aspx (free, Ballymena area, Co. Antrim) www.1718migration.org.uk/ The 1718 migration: The Scots-Irish Journey to www.ballymoneyancestry.com (free, the New World Ballymoney area, Co. Antrim) www.landedestates.ie www.glasnevintrust.ie/genealogy/ Searchable, online database of all Landed Estates (1.5 million Dublin records, free index search, in Connacht and Munster charge for details)

Ulster Historical Foundation, The Corn Exchange, 31 Gordon Street, Belfast, BT1 2LG Northern Ireland Tel: +44 (0)28 9066 1988 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.ancestryireland.com www.historyfromheadstones.com www.booksireland.org.uk

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