Geography

The Lot System of Prince Edward Island – Part 2

In Part 2 of this blog, I will continue a discussion of how to use the Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) Lot system as a means to help identify where your ancestor was from in Ireland.

Research Strategies Using the Lot Number

Using the assumption your ancestors settled in P.E.I. because they had family and friends already there from Ireland, you can narrow this further by grouping potential associates by Lot number. In this case, you would pick a source, such as a census or a published compilation to see who was actually living in that Lot. Then between all the sources, you would see if a pattern emerges with the “neighborhood” being from the same area of Ireland.

Reconstructing a Neighborhood of Immigrants From Ireland

One of my favorite sources for doing this is combining my census work or church register with Peter Gallant’s work From Ireland to Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island: Prince Edward Island Genealogical Society, 1990). In this work, Gallant uses tombstone inscriptions and obituaries from newspapers to reconstruct the Irish community. Many of these records tell the Lot the person was residing, and they often reveal what county or townland the person was born in Ireland. This is an easy way to reconstruct migration patterns out of Ireland. For example, it is know there was an Irish migration from the area of Donagh Parish, County Monaghan to around Lot 35 and Lot 36. This can be substantiated through Gallant’s compilation.

If you think locally in your research, by reconstructing a “neighborhood” where your ancestor lived, then you may be able to solve some difficult research problems. It may be the “neighborhood” all came from the same general area of Ireland. In the case of P.E.I., the Lot number is the key.

If you would like professional help with your Canadian ancestry, call us at: 385-214-0925.

The Lot System of Prince Edward Island – Part 1

23 Oct By Dwight Leave a Comment

We all know Irish immigrant research can be difficult. Before throwing up our hands, we need to step back and think strategically. One way to do this is to group an immigrant community geographically. An excellent example of how to do this can be found on Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.), Canada. However, this serves as only an example, as this strategy can be utilized with any number of political jurisdictions.

The Lot System of P.E.I.

On P.E.I. you would group the immigrant community by the Lot they were living on. The island is divided into three counties; Prince, Queens and Kings; each having a “royalty” or shire town. Within those three counties are 66 Lots roughly around 20,000 English Acres (80 square kilometers). A map of this can be found on the Island Register website under “The Lots of P.E.I.” These date back to an English survey completed in 1766. Within the Lots are various communities. For example, the community of Abney is in Lot 64. This can also be found on the IslandRegister website under “PEI Place Names vs Lot Numbers.” Basically a Lot would be a township in other Canadian provinces. The Lot number can be found in deeds, censuses and scores of other documents. If you only see a county and parish name, then here are the lots within each:

Prince County

North Parish: 1, 2, 3
Egmont Parish: 4, 5, 6, 7
Halifax Parish: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Richmond Parish: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
St. David’s Parish: Prince Royalty, 18, 19, 25, 26, 27, 28

Queens County

Grenville Parish: 20, 21, 22, 23, 67
Hillsboro Parish: 29, 30, 31, 65
Charlotte Parish: Queens Royalty, 24, 32, 33, 34
Bedford Parish: 35, 36, 37, 48, 49
St. John’s Parish: 50, 57, 58, 60, 62

Kings Parish

St. Patrick’s Parish: 38, 39, 40, 41, 42
East Parish: 43, 44, 45, 46, 47
St. George’s Parish: Kings Royalty, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 66
St. Andrew’s Parish: 59, 61, 63, 64

In Part 2 of this blog, I will be discussing strategies you can use to help identify where your ancestor may have come from in Ireland. If you would like professional help with your Canadian ancestry, call us at: 385-214-0925.

1901 Townland Index Online

5 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

An important database has come online. It is the 1901 version of the “Index to Townlands,” sometimes referred to as the “Townland Index.” It is now available on The Irish Genealogical Research Society website. I cannot tell you how long I have waited for either the 1901 or 1871 editions to come online. The reason is that unlike the standard 1851 Townland Index, the later ones list an extra category for the Electoral Division.

What is a District Electoral Division?

The Electoral Divisions, more properly termed District Electoral Divisions (DED) is a grouping of townlands within the Poor Law Union. If you have used the Griffith’s revision books to any extent, you know that aside from the Poor Law Union, you have to know the DED to access the massive microfilm collections through the Family History Library. The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland have placed their revision books online; with a place name index to townlands, erasing the need to know the DED. However, until these come online for the Republic of Ireland, the problem remains and you still need the DED.

Three Ways to Search the Database

This new database allows for three different searches:

General townland search

Townlands in specific Civil Parishes

Townlands in specific District Electoral Divisions

All three are invaluable. For example, if you are using Griffith’s or the revision books, the townland names are meaningless without a map in front of your. Even if you know your townland name, you will no doubt be interesting in other families by the same name or in-laws in the same area. These searches allow you to group the townland names by DED. This narrows your search to a particular section of a civil parish or Poor Law Union.

I will be using this database over and over again. So thank you to the compilers Perry McIntyre and Terry Eakin from Australia for a job well done. A special thanks to The Irish Genealogical Research Society for being the host.

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Determining if Derra Really is Dirraw

22 Mar By Dwight Leave a Comment

Historic Irish place names seem to be one of our major hurdles in our Irish research. Often we are stuck there because so many records depend on the correct geography. I was researching out families in Dirraw and neighboring Mullans townlands in Finvoy Parish, County Antrim. My target family was back and forth in both townlands.

I knew this was my area of concern because of what I had found in the Irish marriage registers, Griffith’s Primary Valuation and my United States research. None of this was in question. Online at Ballymoneyancestry I found a 1790 Election record for the family in Mullans. Great, I thought. There must be a lease agreement filed somewhere in the Registry of Deeds prior to 1790.

Registry of Deeds Lands Index

There was no difficulty finding deeds for Mullans Townland, however, the manuscript Lands Index (or County Indexes) for the period around 1790 was nothing short of a nightmare. I found almost nothing in my search for Dirraw. There in lay my problem.

Concerning Mullans, historically, it was divided into Long Mullans and Broad Mullans and sometimes I found it simply as Mullans. Dirraw was non-existent to the point it made me wonder.

Townlands in a Deed Grouped Geographically

I began to solve this deed problem by looking at all the transactions involving Mullans. Typical Irish deeds listed many townlands from various parts of Ireland in the same transaction However, multiple townlands were either grouped by parish or barony. There alongside the Mullans townlands was a Upper Derra or Dera and a Lower Derra or Dera. I had a modern road map showing townland names, so there was no question, the deeds grouped townlands geographically.

So in my search prior to 1840, my Dirraw was hiding under Derra or Dera. That’s what I needed to know. Now I can go back to the manuscript indexes under those spellings (Upper and Lower) to gather those transactions. However, as I suspect, I have by default already looked at most of them simply by the fact I already found the Mullans transactions.

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A Townland Name as a Regional Description

24 Jan By Dwight Leave a Comment

I was researching a family in Doocastle, Kilturra Parish, County Mayo recently. The Tithe Applotment (1834) listed who I thought was the family in Eskreagh & Lugadoon. Doocastle itself was not listed. The Tithe book crossed the border into County Sligo, with the manuscript separating out the townlands by county. While Eskreagh & Lugadoon was suppose too have been on the Mayo side, I couldn’t find that it became an official townland name a few years later, when the Ordnance Survey teams standardized names, spellings and boundaries.

I had noticed online other researchers were asking the same questions I was. My only solution was to think up a strategy right on the spot.

Comparing the Tithe and Griffith’s Valuation Informaion

I took the seventeen households listed in the Tithe and tried to identify them in Griffith’s Primary Valuation on Kilturra Parish, Mayo (1856) and Sligo (1858). I found some of the exact names in Griffith’s living in Doocastle. I also found the other Tithe surnames limited right across the border on the Sligo side. At this point, I took a map of this area and marked each Griffith’s townland where the Tithe entry appeared. The results were fascinating.

All surnames and exact given and surnames were limited within a short distance of Doocastle, County Mayo. I surmised that Eskreagh & Lugadoon must have been a regional name for this area of Kilturra Parish in both counties. When the Ordnance Survey teams completed their job in 1837; this localized area simply disappeared.

The Tithe was Generated Using Localized Place Names

I also reasoned the Tithe Applotment was generated using local knowledge of farms and townland names. Thus, the people of the community were tithed and funds went to support the Protestant Parish.

I was satisfied the man I found in Eskreagh & Lugadoon was the man I was seeking in Doocastle. If I had simply thrown up my hands and quit, I would not have confirmation to continue building this case.

If you are having trouble with Irish place names and what they really mean in the record then Click Here.

Keeping Your County Boundaries Straight

29 Nov By Dwight Leave a Comment

If you have been doing genealogy for decades or for only months, you have most likely encountered the problem of shifting political boundaries. In United States research, counties divided, subdivided, and sometimes even dissolved! However, there are some simple ways to keep track of where your people were living in what year.

In places such as Kentucky, the number of counties, and the rate they divided was simply staggering. Keeping track of the correct county records is a job in itself. Here’s my strategy for keeping tabs on county boundary changes:

*Make a running tally of where your ancestors were living during each state or federal census. If your ancestors were in different counties, does this reflect the creation of a new county or did your ancestors actually move?

*Use standard reference books which cite the creation dates for each county. This would certainly include, The Handy Book for Genealogists: United States of America (11^th edition, 2006), edited by Holly T. Hansen and Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources (3^rdedition, 2004), edited by Alice Eichholz. Other options are to consult

*Make a stick chart showing what counties were created from which parent counties. This visually clues you to when you need to consult records of another county. You may also find the new county was administratively connected to a more established county, but not formed from it. I’m thinking of how western Pennsylvania was created and the new counties administered. All of this affects where you will find records.

Always keep track of what resources you have used to document the “genealogy” of county formations. It’s your guide into what records you need. Don’t be like many of us; make the chart on a scrap piece of paper and then throw it away when you think you’re finished. You will probably need your chart again.

Lists of Townlands in Poor Law Unions (1885)

1 Sep By Dwight Leave a Comment

Often I encounter a townland name in Irish Civil Registration that the spelling is so mutilated that none of the databases help me. If on a birth, marriage or death certificate you encounter this, then there’s help on the horizon. Civil Registration was compiled by Poor Law Union, which is the same as the Superintendent Registrars’ District in civil registration.

To keep track of all this, in 1885 the government produced a series of pamphlets for 63 Poor Law Unions listing the Registrars’ District, the Electoral Division within the Registrar’s District, and then a list of townlands within each Electoral Division. Where more than one civil parish is involved the townlands within the Electoral Division are divided accordingly.

This really isn’t as confusing as it sounds. The pamphlets created a reference work the officials could utilize in completing the civil registration forms. It’s all laid out on paper with the correct government recognized spellings. Yet, how often the officials ignored this reference work is anybody’s guess.

How I use this work is if I cannot read a place name, then I go to this 1885 work, reference the pamphlet on the Poor Law Union I’m interested. Then I reference the Registrars’ District and start looking for anything familiar. The main categories are on the certificate anyway, so referencing the correct pamphlet is not a problem. Then I see what my options are supposed to be according to the government for recognized townland names. This is how I find what I’m looking for as some townland in my options will look like what I’m seeing on the certificate.

These pamphlets have been brought together and published by George B. Handran, C.G. as Townlands in Poor Law Unions (Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Co., 1997). This excellent reference tool is available on CD.

What is GLORECORDS?

31 Aug By Dwight Leave a Comment

The General Land Office (GLO) – Eastern States Office houses the Secretary of the Interior’s copies of over 9 million GLO records. To preserve and make these records available to the public, the “General Land Office Automated Records Project” is scanning and indexing originals on a free database as part of the Bureau of Land Management: www.glorecords.blm.gov Currently, these include Patents, Survey Plats, Field Notes and Land Status Records. The database provides access to people receiving lands under many federal programs, not just the Homestead Act of 1862. Records can relate to the survey plats and field notes back to 1810 with land title records between 1820 and the present.

The database only covers states termed “Federal Land States” which were set up on the township, section and range system. This includes: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio (part), Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The other states are known as “State Land States” and they alone with parts of Ohio are measured in metes and bounds.

The BLM website has a handy glossary of terms you will find in the records. There is also a handy explanation to the Rectangular Survey System (Township/Range, Section Number, Aliquot Parts). Basically, a section contains 640 acres, half section 320 acres, a quarter section 160 acres, half of a quarter 80 acres, and a quarter of a quarter 40 acres.

Land can be searched by state, county, name of the person, or by coordinates (land description). If using the coordinates you will be able to view your ancestor’s neighbors. They may be friends are family members from Ireland.

If you find a record of your ancestor receiving land, then the next step is to contact the National Archives to obtain the Land Entry Case Files: www.archives.gov/research/land/index.html They cover the pre-1908 period, and are the records of most interest to genealogists. Sometimes these provide more intimate details such as birth places!

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland (1844)

25 Aug By Dwight Leave a Comment

If you are writing a pre-famine family history, or simply wanting to know what life was like in a particular area, then The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland (1844) may be what you are looking for. This is a ten volume set arranged alphabetically. This work is found several places online, so it is best to Google the title of the book and see which database you want to consult.

This work is similar in scope to the two volume Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837): www.libraryireland.com/topog/index.php by Samuel Lewis, which I have already blogged about. The two sources together provide you with an excellent pre-Famine view of Ireland.

The gazetteer is written from the government point of view, so a parish entry will mean civil parish. However, Roman Catholic history and statistics will be listed under the civil parish. There are entries for counties, parishes, islands, towns and considerable villages, baronies, principal mountains, bays, all fishing harbors, all rivers, principal lakes, chief mines and mineral districts, on all villages which contain at least twenty houses, and hundreds of others which contain fewer, and principal rural antiquities to name some of the topics covered. This remains a true encyclopedia of pre-Famine Ireland. What is not listed are histories on individual townlands.

The entries all sorts of statistics taken from the 1831 and 1841 censuses. This in itself can provide you with hard to find information from which to develop your narrative, if you are writing a family history or conducting historical research.

A breakdown of the volumes are as follows: Volume 1 (A-Arm), Volume 2 (Arm-Car), Volume 3 (Car-Cus), Volume 4 (Dal-Gal), Volume 5 (Gal-Kil), Volume 6 (Kil-Mag), Volume 7 (Mag-Rap), Volume 8 (Rap-Tib), Volume 9 (Tib-You), Volume 10 (You-Z and Index).

Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of Ireland

12 Aug By Dwight Leave a Comment

Whenever I need some quick pre-Famine background material in trying to put a family in their historical context, I go to the two volume work Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837): www.libraryireland.com/topog/index.php by Samuel Lewis. There are other dictionaries and gazetteers, but this is a good one to become acquainted. It has been reprinted, making it widely available in many libraries.

The majority of the entries in the book will be for villages, towns, cities, counties and parishes. They do not include townlands in this manner. It is written from a Protestant perspective, so the parishes mentioned are civil parishes. However, Catholic chapels and statistics are detailed.

I also use this source when I’m compiling a family history to publish. Sometimes, background information is hard to come by, especially for smaller places or for civil parishes in general. This dictionary does provide me a point from which I can write background history. For example, if I’m trying to determine how Patrick Sullivan met and then married Mary Kelly, and they were not from the same parish, this work will help. The section on the civil parishes where they lived will tell where the market towns were located and when the markets were held. That is usually my answer as to how they met when they didn’t live close to each other geographically. Remember, most of the common Irish were on foot and had limited mobility.

Lewis’s dictionary is a good launching point for your research. Just remember, it’s not the only resource of this type. I will talk about other dictionaries and gazetteers in the future.

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