Irish Research

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Irish Research

Céad Míle Fáilte - Welcome

Fáilte roimh bhocht is nocht!

(FAWL-chuh rihv WOKHT iss NOKHT) [fa:l't'@ riv' voxt is noxt] = Everybody welcome!

This is not intended to be the know-all guide to Irish Genealogiacl Research, more like a short introduction to Genealogical research in Ireland, there will be plenty of links to better information on how to trace your Irish ancestors.

In medieval times Ireland was made up of 5 separate kingdoms, the English invaded Ireland in the 12th century and gained full control of Ireland under the reign og Henry VIII, from then on the English kings and queens called themselves Kings or Queens of Ireland. In the 17th century quite substantial protestant settlements were established and Ireland was formally joined to Great Britain by The Act of Union of 1801. The 6 counties of Northern Ireland remain part of The United Kingdom and since 1922 the remaining 26 counties have formed Southern Ireland (Eire), leading to some difficulties when trying to research your ancestors in the Republic of Ireland since most records were lost in 1922 at the four courts in Dublin then the Irish Public Record Office, having said that there remains many sources available to the researcher.

In general Irish records are similar to those of England, British rule in Ireland up untill 1922, was the responsibility of both The Lord Lieutenant and his officials in Dublin and, from 1801 the British Cabinet and civil service, so you may find that many records of irish ancestors are held in Britain, particularly at the PRO. Those with Irish ancestors will find very useful information in the records of the army especially information of the Irish regiments and militia, naval and merchant seamen, PCC wills and administrations and the records of Chancery.

Chapman County Codes	Civil Registration	The Census	The Church
The Counties	Recommended Reading	Names and Places I am Interested In

The Census:

A census was taken in Ireland every 10 years from 1821 to 1911. A census was also taken in 1926. All census records for 1861 to 1891 were destroyed by the government and only a few sections of the census returns for 1821 to 1851 survived the fire in 1922.

Civil Registration:

Civil registration began on the 1st of April 1845 for Protestant marriages and on the 1st of January 1864 for all births, marriages and deaths. The regitration districts in Ireland were based as in England on the poor law unions. Records are held by The Regisrar General at Joyce House, 8-11 Lombard Street, Dublin 2, except for birth, marriage and death records for Northern Ireland since 1st of January 1922, these can be found at The Registrar General for Northern Ireland at Oxford House 49-55 Chichester Street, Belfast. The Registrar General in Belfast also holds copies of the indexes of births since 1864.

The Church:

From the 1600's until the political partition of Ireland, the official religion was Church of Ireland i.e. Protestant. Therefore, the civil record system was geared up to that. Only since 1922 had the Catholic Church been the official basis for church records. It follows that any parish record research conducted prior to partition should start with the official state religion, Church of Ireland. The official church was organised into 31 dioceses and about 1,600 parishes, it's ministers were only required to record baptisms and burials from 1634 and most surviving registers only commence in the late 18th century, plus over half the Church of Oreland registers were deposited by 1922 at The Irish Public record Office and so most of them were destroyed in the fire of 1922. Some Anglican as well as many catholic and non-conformist registers, had not been deposited and some transcripts for those that were lost survive.

The disestablishment of the Church of Ireland as the official state church occurred in 1869. At that time all CofI parish records were supposed to be sent to Dublin for safekeeping. The only exceptions to this edict were parishes that could prove they had secure facilities for the safeguarding of records. Most parishes complied and it is with some irony that these, and not the Catholic parish records, which were deemed to be of no value, were destroyed in the shelling of the Four Courts building at the outbreak of the Irish Civil War.

One exception to this is the City of Dublin CofI parishes, the records for which were largely preserved.

The Counties:

At one time there were five provinces. The Kingdom of Meath - Midhe - was the fifth province of ancient Ireland (the Irish word for a province is 'cuige', pron:'coo-igga', meaning a fifth). The Kingdom of Meath featured prominently in the political turmoil of the 11th and 12th centuries, and was recorded as a 'shire' or county in 1297 but it was eventually 'shired' into two counties by Act of Parliament of King Henry VIII in the year 1543 - the counties so formed being known as Meath and Westmeath - which simply means the western portion of the ancient Kingdom of Meath. The ancient kingdom of Meath was comprised of the present(1892) counties of Meath, Westmeath, with parts of Dublin, Kildare, King's County (Offaly), the greater part of Longford, and small portions of Brefney and Orgiall on the borders of the present counties of Cavan and Louth and was created by taking a portion or "neck" of the other four provinces. Midhe "mee", which signifies a neck. Northern Ireland is still considered part of the province of Ulster.

From early times each province of Ireland appears to have had its own king. According to legend these kings were subject to the ardri, or monarch, to whom the central district, called Meath, was allotted, and who usually resided at Tara, a hill in present-day county Meath.

The four Provinces where divided into 32 counties, subdivided into 325 baronies, about 2, 450 parishes and roughly 64,000 townlands.

Chapman County Codes:

Below are listed the abbreviations of Irish Counties

that are generally accepted.

NIR=Northern Ireland, IRL=Republic of Ireland.

ANT, NIR - Antrim	ARM, NIR - Armagh
CAR, IRL - Carlow	CAV, IRL - Cavan
CLA, IRL - Clare	COR, IRL - Cork
DON, IRL - Donegal	DOW, NIR - Down
DUB, IRL - Dublin	FER, NIR - Fermanagh
GAL, IRL - Galway	KER, IRL - Kerry
KID, IRL - Kildare	KIK, IRL - Kilkenny
LDY, NIR - Derry / Londonderry	LET, IRL - Leitrim
LEX, IRL - Leix / Queens / Laois / Laoighis	LIM, IRL - Limerick
LOG, IRL - Longford	LOU, IRL - Louth
MAY, IRL - Mayo	MEA, IRL - Meath / Navan
MOG, IRL - Monaghan	OFF, IRL - Kings / Offaly
ROS, IRL - Roscommon	SLI, IRL - Sligo
TIP, IRL - Tipperary	TYR, NIR - Tyrone
WAT, IRL - Waterford	WEM, IRL - Westmeath
WEX, IRL - Wexford	WIC, IRL - Wicklow

For more information see: Irish Links

Recommended Reading:

Some of these books are invaluable if you are tracing your Irish families, some are just good reading, but all are very informative.

Abbeys and Monasteries

This text celebrates Britain's monastic heritage, from vast medieval ruins to living cathedrals, abbeys and minsters. Derry Brabbs' photography is complemented by his text which examines the history of the monasteries, the great period of building in the 11th and 12th centuries and other topics.

Clans and Families of Ireland : The Heritage and Heraldry of Irish Clans and Families

Discusses immigration and emigration in Irish history and their effects on family names, introduces Irish heraldry, and recounts the origins and history of more than two hundred Irish surnames.

At the Edge of the World : Magical Stories of Ireland

John Lowings

Extremely interesting combination of contemporary photographs and traditional stories. The photographs complement the text and evoke the atmosphere of the telling of the stories quite beautifully. I found the book fascinating.

The Art of Irish Cooking

Monica Sheridan

Book of Irish Names

Irish Family Names Map, A pictorial map illustrating almost 200 medieval coats of arms of Ireland's principal families.

Irish Records : Sources for Family and Local History

Second edition of a highly acclaimed and fully comprehensive guide to the records of all Irish counties, with guidance on how to use them for researching Irish families

Names and Places I am Interested In:

These are just a few of the names and places that have cropped up during the research into the Glen family,

Bolland, Carline, Carlin, Caerlon, Dolan, Downie, Feeney, Flaherty, Gibb, Glen, Gunning, Kearns, Logg, Loag, Leonard, McHale, McNamara.

Fermanagh, Castlebar, Mayo, Wexford, Ulster

Created by John Hugh Glen. Url http://www.btinternet.com/~johnhglen/