Irish Records – Page 2

Irish Genealogical Research Society

The Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS): http://igrsoc.org is a well-respected organization based in London, with an Irish branch. It was founded in 1936. This is an important society which has helped to preserve, and make available privately held Irish records. Membership is open to anyone interested in Irish family history.

The IGRS was founded due to the destruction of the Public Record Office in 1922. The society set a goal to locate and preserve printed and manuscripts dating prior to that date, which includes wills, genealogies and Church of Ireland registers to name a few. The best use of their holdings for the family historian is when the family lineage has already been traced back to the mid-1800s.

The IGRS has created the largest private library of Irish genealogical material in Britain. They publish the widely acclaimed journal The Irish Genealogistonce a year since 1937. They also publish a bi-annual newsletter. The society has launched a monthly bulletin about Irish genealogy. Most major libraries with Irish collections will have the journal. Issue from 1937-1993 are now available on CD from Eneclann: www.eneclann.ie

The IGRS library is staffed by volunteers, and they cannot undertake private research. The benefits of society membership is access to the library and online resources. A list of the major manuscript collections housed at the IGRS library can be found on the society website.

If you are well-versed in Irish genealogy, you probably know about the IGRS. If you are a new to research, then I would suggest you find copies of their journal for study, explore their website, and see at what stage of your research, you may be ready for membership. Their goals for Irish research are certainly the same goals we all have regardless of what country we live.

An Introduction to Irishgenealogy.ie

18 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

A relatively new and exciting database is “Irish Genealogy”: www.irishgenealogy.ie. It is an incredible addition to the world of Irish genealogy. This free database currently includes 3 million pre-1900 church records targeting the following areas:

County Carlow (Church of Ireland)
County Cork: West (Roman Catholic Diocese Cork & Ross which includes Cork City)
County Dublin: Dublin City (Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian)
County Kerry: (Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland)

For so long, these areas have been somewhat of a blank in our Irish research. We all waited for years for County Kerry, western and southern County Cork to be completed. These areas alone were areas for massive Irish immigration. This makes Irishgenealogy.ie a major contribution in our search for immigrant origins.

These entries are not part of the RootsIreland.ie website sponsored by the Irish Family History Foundation: www.rootsireland.ieThese databases together provide an incredible

look at Irish families unthinkable not that many years ago.

As with any database, it’s only as correct as the people who indexed them. Some original registers are in horrid condition or have gaps in them. The indexers did the best they could with what was at their disposal. Always keep that in mind during your searches. Also, if you need a particular parish, make sure it is on the database. This is still a growing collection and the website will keep you aware every few months of their progress.

In short, if you don’t know where in Ireland a family is from, utilize Irishgenealogy.ie alongside Rootsireland.ie website. With either one, be creative with your spelling of surnames, and always be quite liberal with the age of your immigrant ancestor.

An Introduction to RootsIreland.ie

16 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

I regularly use the databases on RootsIreland: www.rootsireland.ie This is the website of the Irish Family History Foundation. They have been placing the individual indexes from the county heritage centres online. The sources for each county on the databases are listed, and this is very important as this is a growing database.

Currently, the RootsIreland has 19 million records in their index. These are indexes only. Most are from Catholic and Protestant church registers, but there are also civil registration, tombstone inscriptions, censuses, Griffith’s Primary Valuation and passenger lists.

The church records cover most, but not all counties. A map featured on the website shows what is included. The next thing to remember is that not all denominations within a county are represented. Also, remember, half the Church of Ireland parish registers were destroyed in 1922, which accounts for some major gaps in the database.

RootsIreland added an advanced search where mother’s name can be added, a parent search, or in some cases, it can be narrowed to a particular parish or civil record. If you don’t know a county, you can do the basic search, and with enough information, it’s entirely possible to identify the correct family. This website is a major contribution to the field of Irish genealogical research.

People complain about paying for the final extract of the record. I would like to counsel that purchasing an entry for a few Euros is much cheaper than purchasing a plan ticket to Ireland. Another word about paying is to use your credit card. If you use your debit card, you will get extra bank charges attached to the cost of the search. I have learned that the hard way!

New England Historic Genealogical Society

9 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS): www.americanancestors.org in Boston is a treasure trove of records and assistance. This is the oldest and perhaps most prestigious genealogical societies in the country founded in 1845. While their main focus would be the New England states, their collections are by no means limited to that area. They have material on Virginia, Canada and of course Ireland.

Their library collection consists of over 12 million books, manuscripts, family papers, Bibles, electronic resources, photographs and artifacts documenting some four centuries. The expert staff can consult and assist with many ethnic and geographic regions. Among these are New York, French and Atlantic Canada, African American, English, Irish, Scottish, immigration, Native American, military and New England. All of these have some application to your Irish research.

Of particular interest for Irish Studies is their Irish collection of books, microfilm and digital resources. They have an interest in the Scots-Irish as the first wave of Scots-Irish to the colonies came from the Aghadowey Presbyterian Church in County Londonderry. These immigrants left in 1718 and founded Londonderry, New Hampshire. The NEHGS library has a transcript of the Session Minutes from the congregation 1702-25 which documents many of these early immigrants.

The society also publishes several top quality publications. These include The New England Historical and Genealogical Register; the American Ancestors, and American Ancestors.

For your New England and your Irish research, do not neglect the NEHGS collections as a major resource. In fact, they are certainly worth joining as membership will provide you will online access to their large collection of indexes and databases. My personal favorite is the “Search for Missing Friends: Irish Immigrant Advertisements, 1831-1920” (from a Jesuit newspaper) which I use on a regular bases.

Methodist Church in Ireland

7 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

The Methodist Church in Ireland: www.irishmethodist.org should not be ignored in your research. By the early nineteenth century, it had spread like wildfire throughout Ireland. Today it is the fourth largest denomination in all of Ireland.

Methodist beliefs arrived from England to Ireland. The chief founder and theologian was John Wesley (1703-91). However, he would remain within the Church of England. It’s easiest to think of the Methodists as reformers within the Anglican tradition, even if they were only tolerated.

The contributions of Methodism to world Protestantism is often underestimated. The chief contribution of Wesley was his doctrine on “Christian Perfection,” also termed “entire sanctification.” This was a process wherein Christians could obtain a perfection of love, through God sanctifying and transforming the believer. Where Methodists may have seen this as a life-long process, later movements such as the Holiness and Pentecostals, would see this as a second instantaneous religious experience.

The first separate Irish Methodist churches were not in Ireland but in the North American colonies as early as the 1780s. They would begin to emerge in 1817-18 as their own denomination in Ireland.

Many Methodist records can be found at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast. Another resource is the Wesley Historical Society located at Edgehill College in Belfast.

An excellent primer to research is Steven C. ffeary-Smyrl’s Irish Methodists – Where Do I Start? (2000). Another important work is the chapter “Methodist Records in Ireland,” in James Ryan’s Irish Church Records (1992). For historical research, Charles H. Crookshank’s three-volume History of Methodism in Ireland (1885-1888) is a classic. The impact of Irish Methodism in world Protestantism can be found in Taggart, Norman W. Taggart’s The Irish in World Methodism 1760-1900 (1986).

The Methodist Church would suffer membership losses due to immigration. Canada and America were prime areas. However, they literally went everywhere the Irish would settle.

The Difference Between Catholic and Protestant Research

2 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

The first question I ask in research is “Were they Catholic or Protestant?” This is important because of the different research approaches to each. If you don’t know, then chances are they were Protestant. Catholicism is a culture as well as a religion. So something usually passes down in some form. Protestantism is different. Loyalty is not necessarily to a particular denomination, but more individual. In other words, one could switch denominations, often as simple as transferring membership. Salvation isn’t based in church or ritual, but in the personal faith. Catholics held church and ritual to be very important, so they should appear in the registers. The question then is: How complete are those registers?

In Irish research, you will find Protestants documented more in the leases, marriage bonds and wills. However, saying this, most Protestants were still poor tenant farmers, just like their Catholic neighbors. Catholics of the upper class did appear in these records, but there were often legal restrictions, for example on how long they could hold a lease.

If you have spent much time in Irish church registers of all denominations, you already know there was conversion both ways. Mixed marriages were more common than you would think. In another twist, beginning in the 1840s, it was mainly Protestants who converted to Mormonism. A religion that was neither Catholic nor Protestant. That began to change after the partition of the country in 1921; then it became Protestants in the north and Catholics in the south.

Just be aware that knowing the religion of your ancestors is important. Whether they practiced may even be beside the point. The emphasis is on what records would document that particular culture at that particular point in time.

Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois

31 May By Dwight Leave a Comment

The Newberry Library in Chicago: www.newberry.org is a non-circulating independent research library. It is also a major repository for genealogical reference material. It is open to the public at no charge. The strength of the library is the “Core Collections” which includes “Genealogy and Local History.”

The Newberry Library has been gathering material for their “Genealogy and Local History” collection since 1887. This includes some 17,000 published genealogies, especially strong for Colonial American and New England families. Their collection of local histories covers all regions of the United States with an entire collection of New England town histories. The British Isles local history collection is also noteworthy, as is their strong collection of county histories from the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states.

One important part of the genealogy collection is their source materials. It consists of published pre-twentieth century vital, cemetery and county records. These cover the Mississippi Valley to the Eastern Seaboard. The library also houses records from Canada and the British Isles. Another important section is their military records which include all wars, and their Civil War unit histories are among the best in the United States. Other military records include roster and pension reference works. Housed as part of the library holdings are many state and county historical and genealogical periodicals.

Concerning their Irish collections, the library has published its own Irish Genealogy guide to the collections: www.newberry.org/sites/default/files/textpage-attachments/Irish.pdf This four page guide provides the categories a resource will be found and the library reference numbers. The Newberry Library is a repository well worth becoming acquainted.

Irish Wills at the National Archives of Ireland

30 May By Dwight Leave a Comment

When the Public Record Office in Dublin was burned during the 1922 Irish Civil War, the majority of the wills were destroyed. Efforts soon were underway to call in second copies held locally. The resulting gathered records create a major collection for the now National Archives of Ireland (NAI). Much of the collections has been microfilmed and are at the Family History Library (FHL).

There are several ways to access the NAI will collections. One is the “Testamentary Documents Card Index” covering the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries:

Surname FHL#

A-B 1565816

C-D 1565817

D-G 1565818

H-K 1565819

L-M 1471894

M-R 1471895

S-W 1471897

W-Z 1471898

The NAI collections have been indexed, with reference numbers on the website “Irish Origins” website: www.irishorigins.com database, “Irish Will Index, 1484-1858.” With the NAI reference, you can order the document from the NAI or examine the collections at the FHL to see if it has been microfilmed.

While most of this online index is composed of wills or related testamentary matters (wills, probates, administrations), about 10% of the database is not. This additional material includes mostly marriage licenses and genealogical abstracts. It covers all of Ireland, including Ulster and corresponds with the Testamentary Card Index at the NAI.

The key to accessing the wills gathered at the NAI is the indexes. Chances are they are on microfilm through the FHL. This makes researching for surviving copies easier than ever.

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.

The Irish Workhouse (1838-1948)

26 May By Dwight Leave a Comment

The Boards of Guardians administered poor relief (1838-1948), and each Poor Law Union had a Workhouse. Union boundaries can be found in Brian Mitchell’s A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland (2002).

The Workhouse regiment was so grueling that only those who had no other choice went there. Workhouses provided a haven for unmarried pregnant girls, deserted women, orphan children, sick, handicapped, the elderly and poor. If a family entered together, they were separated by category.

Funds for emigration purposes were used heavily during the Potato Famine (1845-51). Due to the overcrowding of the Workhouses the Outdoor Relief programs began in 1847. Under this program, people could remain in their homes, and work for food.

The records are housed in several repositories such as the County Library system, The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the National Archives of Ireland. Many are on microfilm at the Family History Library. This is such a heart wrenching subject, and many research papers and even Workhouse records have been placed online.

The detail provided in these records is amazing. Notation such as marital status (single, married, deserted), the status of a child (orphaned, deserted, bastard), the condition arrived (physically dirty, has clothes, physical and emotional condition), religion, date

arrived and date died or discharged. The “Minute Books” document assistance given to emigrate. The majority of the information on the residents will be in the “Indoor Relief Registers.”

If the Workhouse is the last place you document your ancestors prior to their emigration, then the date they were discharged from the Workhouse will be the closest record to a departure. When it is compared with the U.S. passenger or Canadian arrival list, a clearer picture will emerge and you will be able to create a time line.

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