How to Trace Your Irish Ancestors: An Essential Guide to Researching and Documenting the Family Histories of Ireland's People, 2nd Edition

223 Pages·2009·0.82 MB·English

by  Ian Maxwell

HOW TO TRACE YOUR
IRISH
ANCESTORS
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HOW TO TRACE YOUR
IRISH
ANCESTORS
An essential guide to researching
and documenting the family histories
of Ireland’s people
IAN
MAXWELL
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The right of Ian Maxwell to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,
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© 2009 Ian Maxwell

First edition 2008
Second edition 2009
First published in electronic form 2009

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 84803 351 1

Cover design by Baseline Arts Ltd, Oxford
Produced for How To Books by Deer Park Productions, Tavistock
Typeset by Kestrel Data, Exeter

NOTE: The material contained in this book is set out in good
faith for general guidance and no liability can be accepted
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For Valerie, thank you for all your help and support
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Contents
Abbreviations xi
Introduction xv
1 Where to begin 1
Start at the beginning 1
What do I need to know? 2
How far back can I go? 2
A walk round a graveyard 3
Visit a LDS Family History Centre 3
Visiting the archives 4
Document your findings 5
A note about Irish surnames 6
Ancient annals and pedigrees 9
DNA 13
2 Administrative divisions 15
General Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns, Parishes and
Baronies of Ireland 15
The townland 16
Unofficial place names 16
The county 16
The barony 17
The parish 17
The poor law union 18
District electoral divisions 18
Ordnance Survey maps 19
3 Civil registration 20
Birth certificates 20
Marriage certificates 21
Death certificates 21
The indexes 22
General Register Office, Dublin 22
General Register Office, Belfast, and district registrar’s offices 24
Church of Latter-Day Saints 26
4 Census returns and old age pension claims 28
1821 census 29
1831–4 census 29
1841 census 30
vii
HOW TO TRACE YOUR IRISH ANCESTORS
1851 census 30
1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 censuses 31
1901 census 31
1911 census 32
1901 and 1911 censuses online 33
Old age pension claims 34
5 Census substitutes 35
Fiants of the Tudor sovereigns, 1521–1603 35
Calendars of patent rolls from the reigns of James I and Charles I 36
Seventeenth-century muster rolls 37
Depositions, 1641 38
Poll tax, 1660s 39
Books of survey and distribution 40
Census of Ireland, c. 1659 41
Subsidy rolls, 1663–66 41
Hearth money rolls 42
‘Census of Protestant householders’, 1740 45
The religious census, 1766 46
Irish Tontines, 1773, 1775 and 1777 46
Petition of Protestant Dissenters, 1775 47
Catholic Qualification Rolls 47
The flaxseed premium 1796 47
The Ulster Covenant, 1912 48
6 Wills and testamentary records 49
Wills before 1858 50
Wills 1858–1900 52
Wills from 1900 53
7 Election records 55
Qualifications for voting 55
Freemen records 56
Freehold registers 57
Poll books 57
Electoral registers and voters lists 58
8 Boards of guardians records 59
Life in the workhouse 60
Who managed workhouses? 61
The Great Famine 61
Emigration 62
New roles and responsibilities 63
9 School records 67
State-run schools 68
Practical skills 69
viii
CONTENTS
School attendance 69
School registers 70
Salary books 72
10 Migration 73
The Great Famine 74
A diverse community 74
Records in Britain 75
Census returns 75
Wills 77
Servicemen 77
Births, marriages and deaths 77
Family Records Centre 78
11 Emigration 79
Research in the United States 79
Research in Canada 83
Researching in Australia 86
Researching in New Zealand 89
Research in Britain 92
Research in Ireland 93
12 Landed estate records 98
Estate records 98
The records 101
Finding estate records 104
Encumbered estates 108
13 Taxation and valuation records 110
Tithe applotment books, 1823–38 110
Tithe defaulters 112
Valuation records 112
The townland valuation of the 1830s 113
The first general valuation (Griffith), 1848–64 113
Irish Land Commission 117
Registry of Deeds 119
14 Church records 122
The Church of Ireland 122
Registers 122
Vestry minutes 124
Church Temporalities Commission 124
Marriage licence bonds 125
The Roman Catholic Church 125
The Presbyterian Church 128
The Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church 130
The Reformed Presbyterian Church 130
ix