GENEALOGY RESEARCH ADVICE
Paul Burns, Tallahassee, FL
IRISH GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH
Many people think that Irish research is all but impossible. Not true. Granted it’s hard to get back past 1800, and its true that many records were destroyed in several major Dublin fires, but other records have survived.
There are a few things you should determine here in this country before tackling Irish research. First, you must determine where in Ireland your ancestor came from. You must narrow the research down to at least the county. Second, What religion? Catholic, Church of Ireland, and other religious records often were kept apart. Third, what social class? Obviously, a landowner would have left more of a record than a tenant farmer, but only 2% of the people owned land.
A couple of other things to keep in mind—One is name spellings. There is hardly any Irish name that is not spelled in at least two ways. A second is to learn the somewhat complicated geographic and political land divisions--counties, baronies, civil and religious parishes, townlands, Poor Law Unions, and electoral districts. It pays to learn these before one starts.
There are four basic record groups available to the Irish researcher:
1. CENSUS – As elsewhere, the census reports are a mainstay of Irish research. Unfortunately, only two are available to us—the census reports for 1901 and 1911—and these are of value only to those whose ancestors left Ireland after those dates (though they can be of some use to trace family members who stayed behind).
The censuses were conducted according to Poor Law Unions, parishes, and townlands. There is no central index and since a page-by-page search is required, at least the parish should be known. The census taker listed everyone in the dwelling along with age and relationship to head of family, occupation, education, literacy, languages spoken and condition of house. The 1901 and the 1911 censuses are available in the National Archives in Dublin, and they can be obtained on Mormon Church microfilm.
2. CIVIL REGISTRY – In 1864 the registration of all births, marriages, and deaths became mandatory, and these are in the General Register Office in Dublin. The GRO indexes are open to the public for a fee, but the actual records are not. You pay a fee and an attendant makes you a copy of the actual record. There is another way to do this via the Mormon Church’s Family History Library, which has all the indexes on microfilm and part of the actual records. Those that it does not have can be ordered by mail from the GRO in Dublin.Death records provide the age of the deceased and fix the date and place of death. Birth and marriage records are more useful because birth records list names of parents and their townland of residence; while marriage records list ages, names of those being married, residences, and the names of the fathers of bride and groom with their occupations.
3. TAX RECORDS – The census provides data from 1911 and 1901. The Civil Registry began in 1864. To research earlier in the 19th century we have two major sources, each of which is a partial census of sorts.
A. Griffiths Valuation - In 1842 a law was passed to provide a uniform valuation of all property in Ireland for tax purposes, and this survey--called Griffiths Valuation--lists every landholder and every householder in Ireland. The survey does not provide the names of family members, but it is the best tool we have for locating a family present in Ireland in the mid-18th century. Griffiths Valuation is widely available. There are copies in the National Library, the National Archives, most county libraries have their portions, and the Mormons have it on microfilm. There also is a CD-ROM index of Griffiths Valuation available commercially.
B. Tithe Applotments – Another great tool is a survey conducted between 1823 and 1837 called the Tithe Applotment Books. Its purpose was to value all properties for the collection of Church of Ireland tithes, the payment of which was mandatory for everyone including members of other denominations. This survey is a very valuable tool for anyone looking for ancestors who migrated before the 1850s who may have held land in the early 1830s . A general surname index for all of Ireland is available on Mormon microfilm (#919006) as are the Tithe Applotment Books themselves. All listings for Co. Sligo can be found online at www.rootsweb.com/~irlsli.
4. CHURCH RECORDS– The last of the four main categories of records are church records. The Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic church accounted for at least 95% of the population. Before civil registration started in 1864 just about the only direct sources of family information were church records (Griffiths Valuation and the Tithe Books give only the names of landholders—no family members).
A. The Church of Ireland was the official church until 1869, and when it lost its official position the government decreed that the records it had been keeping for the government had to be sent to Dublin. By 1922, 1006 parishes had complied, and all those records were destroyed in the fire. Fortunately, 637 other parishes had been allowed to retain their files, and some that sent in the originals first made copies. In short, although many Church of Ireland parish records were permanently lost in the 1922 fire, a surprising number have been recovered.
Church of Ireland records are well worth checking despite the religious faith of one’s ancestors. Since it was the official church, other denominations could be, and often were, buried in its graveyards. As the official church, all “dissenter” marriages—dissenter being the term used for other Protestant religions—and all marriages between Catholics and Protestants had to be performed there until rather late in the 1800s. Catholics were allowed to marry in their own churches.
So where are these records? After the 1922 fire the Church of Ireland became very protective about its surviving records. Many are retained in parish custody, while others have been collected in Dublin in what the Church of Ireland calls its Representative Church Body Library. Many also are available on microfilm in the National Library. A few may have been filmed by the Mormon Church, but very few. There is a compilation that lists every Church of Ireland parish, shows which records survived, what they consist of, and where they can be accessed.
B. The Roman Catholic Church records are not always easy to work with. Handwriting often was bad, and the priests wrote everything but surnames in Latin. Baptism records contain date, name of child, name of father, maiden name of mother, and the names of the godparents. Marriage records contained only the date, the names of those being married, and the names of the witnesses. Few death records have survived.
Unfortunately, for us American researchers, the Mormons were able to microfilm only 390 of the 1153 Roman Catholic parish records. Many more are on microfilm in the National Library, though in some cases permission of the local bishop or priest is necessary to view them. The county heritage centers, which charge for their services, are the best source because they have managed to obtain 75% of all Catholic records. John Grenham’s “Tracing Your Irish Ancestors” gives a county-by-county breakdown of the Roman Catholic parish records, lists the period covered by each, and tells where they can be accessed.
But what if you are not in a position to spend weeks or months in Ireland doing all this research yourself? Well, much of it can be done right here at home—by mail, by computer, or via the Mormons.
A. Mail – Through old-fashion “snail mail,” you can write to county heritage centers or professional genealogists to employ their services. If you have an approximate date of birth, marriage, or death, and a location, you can write to the General Register Office in Dublin, which will do limited research. If you discover that the record you seek is not available on-line or on microfilm here in this country, you can try writing to the local priest or minister of the parish in Ireland
B. Online – What can you do with your computer? Well, very few of the Irish records are available online. The National Library, the National Archives, and some of the other repositories have websites, but for the most part they only provide general descriptions of their holdings. There are several sites offered by genealogy programs such as Rootsweb, Ancestry, and the Mormon Church to which one can send questions. These have search engines by which you type in a name and country and, with luck, you may receive an answer from someone researching the same family or someone with a helpful suggestion
There also are a couple of general genealogical websites which serve as directories for others—“Cyndi’s List” being one.
C. Family History Library – Much of one’s research can be done through the auspices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, better known as the Mormon Church, which has always been very involved with genealogy. For decades it has been sending teams all over the world microfilming church and civil records that bear on genealogy. They have copied perhaps 75% of the Irish records. The Mormons have set up regional Family History Centers, and the one in Tallahassee is located on Stadium Drive adjoining the FSU campus. The procedure is to search their data base to identify which microfilms you want to review, and they are shipped from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
One recent development—the Mormons have issued a “Family History Library Catalog” on CD-ROM that describes more than 3 million microfilms, microfiche, books, and other items in their holdings. Many of the records mentioned above are available on Mormon microfilm--some cemetery records, the 1901 and 1911 censuses, about one-third of the Catholic church records, all of the civil registry indexes (but only part of the actual registry listings), country-wide and local directories, a few estate records, Registry of Deeds records from 1708 to 1929, military records, guild and Royal Constabulary records, tax records such as Griffiths and the Tithe Applotment books, and will indexes.