Journey Home Genealogy

Irish Genealogical Research | Dwight Radford

Call Today! 801.699.2450

Or send us an Email

The Julian Calendar

2 Sep By Leave a Comment

I was working on a Quaker family history in the Irish Registry of Deeds. So when I found a deed that read 15th Day of the 5th Month (commonly called May) 1810, I had to do a double take. No! Well, maybe, but should not be! The no reaction was because Quakers used the Julian Calendar for most of its history; rather than the Gregorian Calendar, which we use today. The maybe reaction was because Quakers abhorred using the names of the months as found in the Western Calendar. However, in this case, I believe the answer lay with the Julian Calendar explanation.

What Day is the New Year?

The Gregorian Calendar was a correction of the Julian Calendar, which by 1752 was 11 days behind the solar year. So under the Gregorian Calendar, 11 days were omitted to bring the calendar back in line with the solar year. So the day after Wednesday 2 September 1752 became Thursday 14 September 1752. Also, the 1st of January was used as the first of the year; rather than the Julian Calendar, where New Year was counted from the 25th of March.

Two Calendars in Use at the Same Time

As both the Julian and the Gregorian calendars were used at the same time, this lead to a “double year” between January and March. So 3 February 1770 (Julian), was 3 February 1771 (Gregorian). Prior to 1752 it would have been written 3 February 1770/1.

Clerks do Make Innocent Mistakes

Now what about my Irish deeds? I reasoned the Registry of Deeds was housed in Dublin and transactions from though out Ireland were registered there but not necessarily immediately. The clerk in Dublin didn’t realize the transaction he registered was dated under the Julian Calendar. So the 15th Day of the 5th Month 1810 was seen as 15 May 1810; when it should have been 15 July 1810. For Quakers, the 1st Month was March not January.

These are genealogy quirks which could lead your research astray if not careful. The clerk, who registered the deed, made an assumption. However, if I did not already know this deed was for a Quaker family, then I too may have made the same erroneous assumption.

If you would like to know more about professional genealogy Contact Us.

Determining if Derra Really is Dirraw

22 Mar By 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.

If you would like professional assistance with your Irish research Click Here.

Identifying an Undocumented Source

21 Nov By Leave a Comment

I sent correspondence to a historical society in Ireland seeking information on a specific family. They sent me back some fascinating possibilities. One item was an abbreviated transcript of a 1786 lease agreement mentioning the person I was looking for. At that time, the ancestor was aged 12 and he was one of the “lives” mentioned for the duration of the lease agreement between this father and the grantor of the lease. The grantor was not mentioned in the abstract. However, there was no source cited, let alone a volume and page.

How to Backtrack a Source

You are sure to find situations like this all over the Internet as people plow through records, but don’t necessarily document them properly. In this case, I assumed the source was the Irish Registry of Deeds. The abstract did have a place name, so I looked at the “County Index” also called “Lands Index” for that locality around 1786.

The volumes around 1786 didn’t have the lease, so I expanded my search. The property and lease was mentioned in later transactions; one in 1805 and another in 1816. That was good enough for me as I was able to figure out the father had died prior to 1816 (there was an 1811 will for him in the indexes, no second copy survives).

The Irish Registry of Deeds Confirmed a Lease

I’m still on the lookout for the 1786 original lease, but for the moment, I’m quite happy the Registry of Deeds confirmed the abstract. There’s much more in the deed books and no doubt in the landlord papers for that geographic area. This was all a good day in Irish research!

Click Here if you would like to explore professional genealogical research.

Line Deeds Up in Date Order!

6 Nov By Leave a Comment

Many Irish and Scots-Irish names are common. This presents its own unique problem as you now have to sort through them not only in the records of Ireland but also in the immigrant country. This is where you have to be very careful in your research to assure you have the correct person. This blog will focus on the immigrant country.

Several Families with the Same Name

Yes, you may have three Kelly or Stewart families in an county or township, and they may or may not all be related. So how do you sort through everybody?

If I’m using a land record in the immigrant country, I start with picking a targeted time frame. If 1800-1820 or 1850-1860 fits your research needs then stick to that as a test. Then using the land deeds, go chronologically through the records extracting all Kelly or Stewarts; even if you have no idea who they are. If the surname is simply to common, then choose particular given names you need to know more about. This narrows your target to all John Stewart deed transactions from 1800 to 1820. Then line them up chronologically.

A Pattern Emerges Separating out Individuals and Families

Once you do this then a pattern will begin to emerge. In the land records you will find the description (location) of the properties, the buyer or seller, the neighbors and the witnesses. Then at the end of your search you will see just how many John Stewarts you really have.

Then separate them out by what the records say. Do you have two John Stewarts or Frank Kellys or do you have five? This will go a long way to helping you sort through common names and stay on track with your research.

Click Here if you would like to know more about deed research and sorting through common names and surnames.

What is a Cunningham (Scottish) Acre?

6 Nov By Leave a Comment

If you have ever seen the term “Cunningham Acre” or “Scottish Acre” (also seen as Scots Acre) in your Irish research, then you no doubt raised an eyebrow. This was a land measurement brought over from Scotland where it had been the standard measurement since 1661. In Scotland it was replaced by the English Acre in 1824. In historic Ireland, it continued until the Ordnance Survey technically replaced the Cunningham (Scottish) Acre with the English Acre by the mid-1830s. However, in reality, its usage survived into the twentieth century in places such as eastern County Down.

You will see the Cunningham (Scottish) Acre mostly in the deeds, leases, and landlord estate records for Ulster. It is sometimes seen as “Conyingham Acre.” It will usually state the type of acres in the record. For the most part, you can assume most records are in English Acres or Irish Acres outside of Ulster, even if it is not stated. From my experience, when Cunningham (Scottish) Acres are used, this is usually noted.

If you’re tracing a particular piece of property, or the history of a townland, you need to be aware of the conversions to English Acres since that was the standard after the 1830s. These are as follows:

1 Irish (Plantation) Acre = 1.6 English Acre (rounded off from 1.6198 to be exact)

1 Cunningham (Scottish) Acre = 1.3 English Acre (rounded off from 1.2913 to be exact)

I first encountered the use of the Cunningham (Scottish) Acre measurement in the rent books for a large and prominent Ulster landowner. To make sense of it, I simply used the formula listed above, and I could then key the property to some degree into Griffith’s Primary Valuation which is in standard English Acres.

For your reference, while most of the world has gone to the metric system, the United States, and some Commonwealth countries still uses English Acres as its basic unit of measurement. This at least provides some visual as to what is meant by an “acre” in this discussion.

Some interesting websites for old measurements include “Index to Units & Systems of Units” www.sizes.com/units/index.php; and a wonderful article by George Gilmore of the Garvagh Historical Society (2011) “What Size is an Acre” www.billmacafee.com/valuationrecords/whatsizeisanacre.pdf is a must to consult.

IGSI Estate Records Index

29 Oct By Leave a Comment

The Irish Genealogical Society International (IGSI): http://irishgenealogical.org is the major Irish genealogical society in the USA. One of their projects to make records more accessible is the “Estate Records Index” project.

Estate records are the landlord business papers of the estate and may include lease agreements and rent ledgers. These may document the average tenant farmer, and are an important, although underutilized resource. Prior to the advent of parish registers, the estate records are about the only record available to document the common family.

The difficulty with these types of records is they are scattered at different archives, no index, and often of little genealogically valuable; as not all estate records lists tenants. To find records, you have to know the townland or parish your ancestor lived in, and the landlord’s name. This is where the IGSI “Estate Records Index” is a major contribution.

IGSI has funded a prominent Irish genealogist to go through the estate records housed at the National Library of Ireland in Dublin, and inventory the valuable ones. Most of the volumes are by county and then by civil parish and by landlord/estate. Counties include: Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Fermanagh, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Leitrim, Limerick, Mayo, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo, Waterford, Westmeath and Wicklow. Individual estates include: “Lismore – Cork (Bandon Area), Tipperary; and the Inchiquin Peninsula – Clare, Limerick, Tipperary.” The prices are reasonable at between $7-$25 USD. They can be ordered from the IGSI Bookstore link on the website.

I personally use these inventories. Once I have found an estate of interest, then I contact an agent working out of the National Library of Ireland: http://www.nli.ie

The “Estate Records Index” series is worth investing in for your particular county research needs. For any library with an Irish collection, the entire series is worth purchasing.

The Scots-Irish and Cherokee Connection (Part 3)

19 Oct By Leave a Comment

My third blog will focus on early Cherokee land and agency records. These are extracted on various websites, published or in manscript form on microfilm. These are good sources for mixed-blood research.

There is no one resource on early Cherokee land records covering the entire nation prior to removal. One example of land records is David Keith Hampton’s Cherokee Reservees (1979), which provides details of land given to the Cherokees in Hamilton County, Tennessee. This book gives the names of the applicants who settled their claims with the U.S. Government in 1817. 

Following the treaty of 1817, the U.S. Secretary of War deeded land to each of the Cherokee chiefs who had signed the treaty. Each tract was either in newly ceded lands or in older lands ceded through earlier treaties, and each chief was given 640 acres (one square mile) of land. Robert Armstrong was the surveyor of this land in Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee. The surveyor’s records for land in Georgia have not survived. Each survey and the accompanying plat have been published in James L. Douthat’s Robert Armstrong’s Survey Book of Cherokee Lands: Lands Granted from Treaty of 27 February 1819 (1993).

The Cherokee Agency in Tennessee was in operation until 1835. The agency records have been transcribed in Marybelle W. Chase’s Records of the Cherokee Agency in Tennessee, 1801-1835 (1990). The records contain much genealogical information, such as lists of widows and orphans. It also has an 1819 listing of those who had originally enrolled for emigration but misunderstood the treaty and wanted to remain.

When families, who had received their reserves, decided to move and sell their land, the transactions would be recorded in the local county land books. At that point they moved to Indian Territory or westward along with other Americans. This helped spread Cherokee rooted families across North America.

How do You Know You have the Right Landlord?

14 Oct By Leave a Comment

If you know the townland your ancestor lived; you are ready to seek the landlord’s estate papers. These are the estate’s private business papers. Many survive, documenting the tenants through leases and rent books. However, the big hurdle is in identifying the landlord so that the correct estate records can be examined.

Start with Griffith’s Primary Valuation (1847-64) which can be found online in numerous places such as: www.askaboutireland.ie The “Immediate Lessor” column means the landlord for the property your ancestor lived on. Remember, a landlord is not necessarily a land owner. The landlord may lease, sub-lease or have a rent agreement with the land owner. If you see the word “In Fee” then you know that is the owner. A title such as Sir, Baronet, Marquis, Lady or Lord also gives an indication you are on the right track.

About 25% of the estates went through the Incumbered (Encumbered) Estates Court. The sales for these bankrupt estates are online: www.findmypast.ie in the collection “Landed Estates Court Rentals, 1850-1885.” You may discover the land owner listed in Griffith’s purchased the townland through an auction, and is not the one you are interested in.

Always compare your findings with the Tithe Applotment (1823-37); indexed online at: www.ancestry.com This source may provide the major lease holder or the owner’s name. However, just be aware townland boundaries and names did not necessarily correspond with the later Griffith’s.

Also, use the Registry of Deeds which begin in 1708, and are on microfilm at the Family History Library: www.familysearch.org There is a place name index and you can access every registered deed for a particular townland.

Always ask yourself if you have the correct landlord or if there were a series of them. This question alone will affect the direction your research takes.

Yukon Land Records

16 Sep By Leave a Comment

Perhaps Yukon Land Records is an odd topic, but not really. Remember, during the Yukon Gold Rush (1896-1899) some 100,000 people literally rushed into the Yukon and Alaska, going back and forth. This was only one period of gold fever. Early land concerned the mining industry; with homesteads opening up in 1906.

People came and settled, and others returned home when their luck ran out. This makes land records for the Yukon important. I already have done one blog on “Lost in Alaska and the Yukon” on 19 May 2012. This blog is best used in conjunction with that presentation.

The Yukon Archives: www.yukongenealogy.com  has records of placer claims (1896-1908). These include miners who were the first to obtain the Crown grant of a particular claim. Other records include the bills of sales (1896-1907), applications for hydraulic leases (1898-1900), Free Miner’s Certificates (1897-1907). All individuals and companies had to purchase a Free Miner’s Certificate which authorized its owner to engage in mining. Many mining records are being placed on the “Dawson City Pan for Gold Database” on the cited website.

Concerning homesteads, the original land titles and documents are registered and stored at the Yukon Land Titles Office in Whitehorse: www.justice.gov.yk.ca/prog/ls/lto/ Yukon land was based on the Torrens System of land registration. Under this system, the

government has custody of all original documents, titles, and plans of survey.

A good resource is the YukonGenWeb project: www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canyk/research.html Constantly check back to see if anything new has been added. Also, consult the guide Genealogical Research at the Yukon Archives: www.tc.gov.yk.ca/pdf/finding_aids/genealogical_bib.pdf

While Yukon connections may raise an eyebrow; keep in mind the sheer numbers of people who spent time there. It may be within a Yukon record you answer the question as to where your ancestor was for those missing years.

Blog