WORKBOOK IRISH GENEALOGY Contents Introduction 01 1: Surnames 06 2: Placenames 09 3: Census 12 4: CivilRecords 16 5: ChurchRecords 20 6: Property 24 7: MilitaryRecords 27 Answers 31 2016 FAMILY HISTORY: WORKBOOK 02 IRISH GENEALOGY Introduction WelcometoFamilyResearch2016.Thiswebsiteandworkbookhas beencreatedbytheNationalArchivesofIrelandtohelpyoufindyour ancestorsonline.TherewasarevolutioninIreland100yearsagoin 1916,buttherehasbeenanotherrevolutionoverthepast20yearsin familyresearch.Ithasneverbeensoeasytofindyourancestors, becausesomanyrecordscontainingtheirdetailshavebeenputonline. Thiswebsitewillguideyouthroughthefreeonlineresourcesthatnow existtohelpyouwiththeexcitingsearchforyourforebears,witha workbook,detailedguidestothedifferentkindsofrecords,case historiesandtargetedtasks,whicharefunaswellashelpful. Enjoytheadventure!It’sneverbeeneasier! 2016 FAMILY HISTORY: WORKBOOK 03 IRISH GENEALOGY Hints & tips Beforeyoustartthemodules,hereare somesimplehintsandtipsthatwillhelp youwithyourresearch; Before you go near the records. Record everything Get help Talktoyourfamily.Itmakesnosensetospenddays Theamountofinformationyou’redealingwithcan Getsomeideaofthebackgroundtoyourfamilysur- trawlingthroughwebsitestofindoutyourgreat-grand- growveryquickly,especiallyintheearlystages,soit’s namesandhavealookatsomeoftherecommendedba- mother’ssurnameifsomeoneinthefamilyalready agoodideatodecideattheoutsetonawayofstoring sicguidestotracingfamilyhistory.Yourlibrary’sOnline knowsit.Sofirst,talktoparents,aunts,uncles,cousins, informationthatmakesiteasyforyoutofindthings PublicAccessCatalogue(OPAC)willshowyourelevant grandparentsandfindoutwhattheyknow.Mostfam- quickly.Mostpeoplepickupandputdowntheirfami- materialavailableinPublicLibraries.Mostcountylibrar- ilieshaveatleastoneindividualwhokeepstrackofthe lyhistoryprojectastimeallows,andthelesstimeyou iesnowalsohavetheircataloguesavailableontheIn- extendednetworkofrelatives,andifyoucantraceher(it spendhuntingforsomethingyouknowyouwrotedown ternet.TheNationalLibraryandNationalArchivesboth usuallyisaher),you’reofftoagoodstart. somewhere,theeasierthesearchwillbe.Ashoeboxwith runwalk-ingenealogicaladvisoryservices,whereyou alphabeticalindexcardsforeachindividualisperfectly cangetpersonaladviceonrecordsandresearch.There Surnames and naming fine.Soisaloose-leafbinder.Therearealsosomeinex- aredetailedguidestostartingoutattheIrishTimesIrish Don’tplaceanyimportanceontheprecisespellingof pensivesoftwarepackagesandwebsitesthatallowyou AncestorssiteandatSeánMurphy’sDirectoryofIrish anyofthesurnamesyou’redealingwith.Althoughthe easilytostoreandretrievecomplexfamilyinformation. Genealogy. spellingmatterstousnow,beforethe20thcentury extraordinaryvariationsregularlyoccurindifferent Start from what you know What will you find? records-illiteracywasrife,forlargenumbersIrishwas Theonlycast-ironruleoffamilyhistoryisthatyoustart Everyfamilyhistoryisdifferent,soyoucan’tsaywhat theirnativelanguage,andmostpeoplesimplyhadmore fromwhatyouknowanduseittofindoutmore.Itis youwillfinduntilyoustartlooking.However,asa importantthingsontheirminds. almostimpossibletotakeahistoricalfamilyandtryto generalrule,thelimitforresearchisthestartdateof uncoverwhatyourconnectionmightbe.Instead,think therelevantparishregisters.Thisvaries,withrecordsbe- ofyourselfasadetective,takingeachitemofinforma- ginninginthelate1700sinDublinandsomeofthemore tionaspotentialevidenceandusingittotrackdown prosperouspartsoftheeastofIreland,butnotuntilthe moreinformationthatinturnbecomesevidencefor 1840sor1850sinmanyplacesinthewest. furtherresearch. 2016 FAMILY HISTORY: WORKBOOK 04 IRISH GENEALOGY MODULE 1 Surnames 2016 FAMILY HISTORY: WORKBOOK 05 IRISH GENEALOGY Surnames Whatweunderstandasurnametobeisthehereditarynamewebear alongwithothermembersofourfamily,usuallyinheritedfromour fatherandpersistingfromonegenerationtothenext. this is the most commonformofsurnameinWest- In Ireland ernEurope,AmericaandAustralia,butitisnottheonly IrelandwasoneofthefirstplacesinEuropetoadopt form.InIceland,therearestillnohereditarysurnames: hereditarysurnames,withsomeevidenceofpersistence ifyourfatherisMichaelandyou’reMartin,thenyour fromaroundtheearly900s.Thereasonissimple.Me- nameisMartinMichaelson.Ifyouhaveasoncalled dievalIrishsocietywasorganisedaroundtheextended P_WP_3609 Peter,hisnameisPeterMartinson.Eachnamelastsonly family.Whoyouwererelatedtodeterminedwhatyou Ref.: asinglegeneration. couldown,whatworkyoucoulddo,whoyoufought NLI withandagainst…Hereditarypatronymicsurnames , How surnames began werewonderfulbadgesofallegiance,showingeveryone InEurope,theadoptionofhereditarysurnamesbegan immediatelywho‘yourpeople’were. Collection intheMiddleAges,overtheperiodbetweenabout900 IntherestofEurope,surnamescouldbelocational andabout1300andcontinuedatverydifferentpacesin -LeonardodaVinci,‘LeonardfromVinci’-occupation- differentlocations.InWales,uptothemid1800s,most al-Baker,Smith,Thatcher-orderivedfromdescriptive Photographic peopleinruralareasusedsingle-generationpatronym- nicknames-Belcher,Little,Short.ButinIrelandalmost ics,asinIceland.InTurkey,peoplewererequiredtouse Poole allsurnameswerepatronymic,usingMac‘sonof’orÓ The asurnameonlyfrom1934. ‘grandsonof’. Initially,surnameswerecommononlyamongthe Surnameadoptionherewasnotstatic.Formore Ireland, aristocracy.Withliteracyandthebroadeningofgovern- thansixcenturies,therewereexplosivewavesofsur- of mentrecord-keeping,thepracticeslowlyspreadamong name-creation,withgreatnetworksofextendedfamily otherclasses.Inurbanareas,atleast,mostsurnames Library namesbuddingandsub-buddingoffcentralstemsas werefixedandhereditarybythe1700s. familiesgreworwanedinimportance.Forexample,the grandchildrenofBrianBorú(d.1014)understandably National the wantedtoflagtheirconnectionandstartedthesurname of O’Brian(ÓBriain).Butthesonsofoneofthosegrand- Courtesy : photo 2016 FAMILY HISTORY: WORKBOOK 06 IRISH GENEALOGY Formorethansixcenturies,therewereexplosivewavesof Tasks surname-creation,withgreatnetworksofextendedfamily namesbuddingandsub-buddingoffcentralstemsasfamilies 1. Listthreesurnamesthatarecommon onlyinyourcounty. greworwanedinimportance. h i n t : Seehere> 2. WhatwouldyournamebeifyouwereIcelandic? 3. FindthreeIrishVikingsurnames. children,MathghamhaUaBriain,pickedtheirown entirelyoptional.Thenthestemsofthenamescouldbe h i n t :Google‘IrishVikingsurnames’ fatherasastartingpointandbecame(inmodernIrish) phoneticallytranscribed,or(mis-)translatedorsimply 4. FindthreeIrishNormansurnames. MacMathúna,McMahon.Fourgenerationslater,Con- turnedintoalready-existingEnglishsurname.SoÓ stantine(Consaidín)O’Brien,bishopofKillaloe,was Foghlú,fromfoghlaí,‘arobber’,becameFoley.Mac 5. FindthreeGaelicIrishsurnames. thesourceoftheMacConsaidínline,theConsidines. anBhreitheamhan,‘sonofthejudge’,became‘Judge’. 5. FindthreePolishsurnamespresentinIreland. Intothemiddleofthis,inthemid1100s,came AndÓBrolacháinwasturnedintothecommonEnglish h i n t : Google‘Polishsurnames’,pickafew(e.g. theNormans,whoasyethadnohereditarysurnames name‘Bradley’,derivedfromanOldEnglishplace- ‘Adamczak’)andGoogleforthatnameinIreland themselves.TheytookuptheIrishpracticewithrelish. namemeaning‘broadmeadow’. (‘AdamczakinIreland’). TheDeBurgofamily,whoacquiredmostofConnacht SoifIrishsurnamesaremisspeltandmangledin 6. HowmanyvariantspellingsofLenihanarethereat forthemselves,spunoffdozensofmodernnames:(Mc) English-languagerecords,youknowwhy. www.johngrenham.com/surnames? Davey,(Mc)Davitt,(Mc)Doak,(Mc)Nicholas(Mc)Phil- bin,McRedmond:allstemmingfromtheforenamesof Continuing change prominentdeBurgos,andallfollowingpreciselythe WiththerevivalofinterestinIrishattheendofthe GaelicIrishtradition. nineteenthcentury,individualsbegantoreclaimtheO andMcprefixes.After1916andIndependencein1921, Gaelic surnames in English thatreclamationaccelerateddramatically.Inthe1850s, AfterthecollapseoftheoldGaelicorderintheseven- therewerealmost3000householdsinIrelandwiththe teenthcentury,theonlypublicadministrationwasin surname‘Shea’andlessthan100called‘O’Shea’.Today English,eventhoughmostpeoplespokeIrishastheir SheaisveryrareandO’Sheabyfarthemostcommon. firstlanguageforthefollowingtwocenturies.Soif Sothesurnameyouhavetodaymightnotbethe administratorswantedtoidentifypeople,theyhadto sameoneyourgreat-grandparentsarerecordedunder. makeEnglish-languageversionsoftheirsurnames. Searchwithanopenmind. Intheprocess,extraordinarychangeswereforcedon thesenames.First,McandOweretreatedasalmost Answers: See page 31 2016 FAMILY HISTORY: WORKBOOK 07 IRISH GENEALOGY MODULE 2 Placenames 2016 FAMILY HISTORY: WORKBOOK 08 IRISH GENEALOGY Placenames InIreland,loyaltytoaplaceoforiginisunusuallystrong.Thehistoryofthatloyalty goesbackthousandsofyears,asreflectedinthevastcollectionoftraditionalplace- namelore,dinnseanchas,storiesexplaininghowtownlandsandparishesgottheir names.Muchofthatloreisnowcollectedonlineatwww.logainm.ie. townlands, of whichtherearemorethan60,000, TheTopographicalSectionoftheOrdnanceSurvey, arestillthebasisofruraladdressesandareuniqueto chargedwithcarryingoutthisstandardisation,wentto Ireland.Itseemslikelythatsimilarplace-namesystems greatlengthstoresearchlocaltraditionsandcustoms existedelsewhereinEuropeintheMiddleAgesandear- andanydocumentaryreferencestotheplaceinearly lier,butIrelandtodayisthelastplacetheyexist. historiesbeforesettlingonanEnglish-languageversion. ODEA Ofcourse,place-namesarealsoimportantforfamily Infact,theirresearchpreservedagreatdealofplace- Ref.: historyresearch-almostalltherecordsofvaluedepend namelore.Buttheprocessalsoinevitablyimpoverished NLI onknowingwherepeoplewereliving,soidentifyingthe