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Church of Ireland Prerogative Court of Armagh Marriage Bonds

28 May By Dwight Leave a Comment

The Prerogative Court of Armagh covered all of Ireland. The moneyed segment of mainly Protestant society had their marriages recorded through this court. These Marriage License Bonds (1710-1849) are on microfilm at the Family History Library (FHL #100876). The original records were destroyed in 1922, but several Irish genealogists had worked with the original records prior to their destruction. The resulting works list only the groom, the bride and the year.

Two collections provide details missing from the indexes, such as the residence of the groom and the bride. “Betham’s Genealogical Abstracts from Prerogative Marriage Licenses, 1629-1810” (FHL #100874-75), abstracted by Sir William Betham is at the National Archives of Ireland: www.nationalarchives.ie  Important details about this collection can be found in David E. Rencher’s three part article “Sir William Betham Collection” published in The Septs in 2010 and 2011. This is the journal of The Irish Genealogical Society International: www.irishgenealogical.org  The second, “Abstracts of Prerogative Marriage Licenses of Ireland, 1629-1858” (FHL #100167-68), extracted by Denis O’Callaghan Fischer, is at the Genealogical Office: www.nli.ie/en/intro/heraldry-introduction.aspx  The Fischer Collection does have its own bride’s index (1629-1820) at the end of the Genealogical Office’s MS 421 (FHL #100167 item 1).

These Prerogative Court marriage record abstracts may not be as informative as you would like. However, they do open up other sources such as the Registry of Deeds, surviving wills and other records from which the upper classes can be documented within.

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Church of Ireland, Church records, Collections, Indexes, Irish Records, Vital Statistics

Church of Ireland Diocesan Marriage Licenses

27 May By Dwight Leave a Comment

Protestants wishing to obtain a marriage license without having banns read in the parish church were required to place a bond with the bishop of their diocese. The original licenses and bonds were destroyed in 1922, but the indexes survived.

People listed in the bonds usually were moneyed Protestants and some Catholics. Depending on the cost of the bond, other classes of Protestants may be included.  

The Marriage Bonds Indexes are very straightforward. They are divided by diocese and list only the name of the groom and the bride, along with the year. Remember that diocese boundaries frequently crossed county boundaries. To use these indexes, maps such as those from Brian Mitchell’s A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland (2002) are essential tools, as they show the boundaries of the dioceses. Some of the diocesan indexes have been indexed online or published.

The records are at the National Archives of Ireland and on microfilm at the Family History Library. The FHL numbers are as follows: 

Diocese                                                           FHL#

Armagh (1727-1845)                                      100859-60

Cashel & Emily (1664-1857)                          100860

Clogher (1709-1866)                                       100862

Cloyne (1630-1866)                                         100863

Cork & Ross (1623-1750)                               100864-66

Down, Connor, Dromore (1721-1845)            100867

Dublin (1672-1845)                                         100867

Kildare (1790-1865)                                        100868

Elphin (1709-1845)                                         100868

Anchonry & Killala (1787-1842)                      100868

Killaloe (1718-1845)                                       100869

Clonfert (1739, 1815-1844)                            100869

Limerick (1827, 1833, 1844                            100869

Kilmore & Ardagh (1697-1844)                       100869

Meath (1655, 1702-1845)                               100869

Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin (1691-1845)       100870-71

Raphoe (1710-55, 1817-30)                           100871

Tuam (1769-1845)                                          100871

Waterford & Lismore (1649-1845)                 100872

Lismore Peculiar Jurisdiction (1779-1802)     100872

If you find your ancestor in these indexes, then you have an indication of their social status. Perhaps most important is that if you didn’t know where in Ireland they were from, then now you at least know a diocese. This opens up other records to continue your search.

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Church of Ireland, Church records, Indexes, Vital Statistics

Did You Look at the Vestry Minutes?

16 May By Dwight Leave a Comment

One often overlooked source is the vestry minutes produced by the local Church of Ireland. Historically the vestries were committees responsible for the upkeep of churches and welfare of all the people within the parish boundaries irrespective of religion. These can provide much personal detail about who lived where.

As manuscript books, they are usually not indexed, and in theory are arranged chronologically. They are business minutes of the parish, and can include a wide range of data. The parish committees or vestries prior to the disestablishment of the church in 1871, acted as a local council. They levied taxes for general services such as the upkeep of roads, poor relief, and security.

The record keeping process varies from parish to parish. Some are very neatly kept and chronological in order. Others are haphazard in nature as if thrown together, with a poor dating system to mark off new days, months or even years.

At times the minutes have vital information in them. Sometimes they can include rare items such as emigration lists, property owners and ratepayers. There are sometimes parish censuses. 

Some vestry minutes were deposited at the Public Record Office prior to 1922 simply because they did contain vital information in them. However, most were not deposited, which may make them the main Anglican collections left for a given parish.

An excellent collection of the vestry minutes can be found at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast: www.proni.gov.uk   and the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin: www.ireland.anglican.org Each have their own online catalogs.

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Anglican Communion, Church of Ireland, Church records, Irish Records, Research, Theology

Historic Terms from Irish Tax Records

11 May By Dwight Leave a Comment

In my continuation of historic terms, I would like to share the ones I find important from the tax lists. This would include the Tithe Applotment (1823-1837) and Griffith’s Primary Valuation (1847-64).

Applotment: The share of the total tax that was imposed upon each individual responsible to pay taxes.

Cottage: A dwelling house of small size, such as is occupied by farm laborers, villagers, miners, etc.

Demesne: Land occupied by a lord for private use.

Free: A squatter who does not recognize a landlord.

Glebe: Land occupied by Church of Ireland ministers.

Grange: Land formerly belonging to a monastery.

House: A building used as a dwelling or a public building such as a house of worship, courthouse, etc.

Immediate Lessor: A landowner who occupies a property or a middleman who leases from the landowner and, in turn, rents all or part of the property to another individual.

In Fee: Owner

Liberty: A civil unit, with authority granted by the crown.

Lot: A section of land with a single physical quality.

Manse: A ministers house.

Occupier: An individual or party who owns/leases/rents a tenement.

Office: A building which is a factory, mill, store, stable, cow shed, pig sty, etc.

Plantation: A section of an estate set aside for planting and cultivation trees and shrubbery for planting on the manse.

Ruin: Abuilding without a roof.

Tenant: An individual who rents/leases property by paying a stated rent to the middleman or owner.

Tenement: Any holding of land as well as a dwelling.

Waste: Ground under houses, yards, streets, small gardens, under barren cliffs, beaches, along the seashore and small bodies of water.

While these may not be the only terms you’ll find in the tax records, they are among the more common ones. They can help you understand what you are looking in the records.

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Church of Ireland, Church records, Dictionaries, Glossary, Irish Records, Land Records, Tax Records, Terminology

Why is My Ancestor Not in the Tithe Applotment?

9 May By Dwight Leave a Comment

The Tithe Applotment Composition Books (1823-1837) was a rural land-based taxation. The funds went for the support of the Church of Ireland clergy. All Protestants and Catholics were required to pay. However, be aware that you may not find your ancestor in the Tithe Applotment books. It’s the why I want to discuss.

The basic rule of thumb is that you should not expect everybody to be listed. The reason is that only those who were responsible for paying the tithe were listed by name. One person often collected for others in the townland. Another reason is some classes of occupiers, such as cottiers (occupiers who paid rent in labor) and farm servants, were not listed at all.

Another reason you may miss someone, is not because they were not listed, but the townland of residence threw you off. The place names of townlands in the Tithe will often differ from those in Griffith’s Primary Valuation (1847-1864). The Ordnance Survey in Dublin officially finished setting the boundaries and standardized the townland names during the 1830s after the Tithe Books had been compiled in many civil parishes. Place names and boundaries were somewhat fluid prior to the 1830s. So your ancestors may actually be listed, just not where you expected.

To sum this up, remember the following: 1) the Tithe was for rural Ireland only; 2) not everybody who paid was listed; and 3) townland boundaries and names were somewhat fluid during the Tithe era. Now you can approach this source in a new light.

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Church of Ireland, Church records, Irish Records, Strategies, Tax Records

Dwight A. Radford

Dwight A. Radford is a professional family history researcher. Along with his staff they specialize in Ireland, England, Canada, African American, Native American, and United States. Connecting families together through historical documents and then creating a cherished family heirloom published book for generations to enjoy. Full bio…

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