Irish Genealogy: Working With Vital Records To replace the title / subtitle with your own: Click on the title block -> select all the text by pressing Ctrl+A -> press Delete key -> type your own text Class Handouts 17 Nov 2012 Vermont Genealogy Library

Administrative Divisions of Ireland Vermont Genealogy Library 17 Nov 2012

Grenham’s Surname Distributions Across Ireland Search for a surname by county and civil parish (1851 or 1890) Search against frequency of 2 surnames in a location NOTE: This CD is available at our library in the computer room Vermont Genealogy Library 17 Nov 2012

Reference Books at VT-FCGS Library: Tracing Your Irish Ancestors by John Grenham, 3d Edition, 2007 Richard Griffith & His Valuation of Ireland by James Reilly, 2000 Irish Famine Immigrants in the State of Vermont by Ron & Janet Murphy, 2000 A Guide to Irish Parish Registers by Brian Mitchell, 1988 A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland by Brian Mitchell, 2d Edition, 2002 A General Alphabetic Index to Townlands in 1851, Genealogical Publishing Co. A Guide to Irish Family History by Larry O’Keefe Tombstones of Ireland by Joanne Schmidt The Great Hunger by Cecil Woodham-Smith In Search of Your British & Irish Roots by Angus Baxter A Guide to Your Irish Ancestors by J. Anderson Black Databases on CD: Grenham’s Irish Surnames An Index to Griffith’s Valuation Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018

Abbreviations Used In Many Reference Books ROI & NI – Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland NLI – National Library of Ireland (Dublin) NAI – National Archives of Ireland (Dublin) GRO – General Records Office (Dublin) GRONI – General Records Office, NI PRONI – Public Records Office (Belfast, NI) RC – Roman Catholic P, COI, M, Q, B – Presbyterian, Church of Ireland, Methodist, Quaker, Baptist PLU – Poor Law Union FHL, FHC – Family History Library (Utah) & Family History Center (Local) IFHF – Irish Family History Foundation (website is RootsIreland.ie) Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018

1845 for Protestant marriages 1864 for Protestant births & deaths Civil Registration 1845 for Protestant marriages 1864 for Protestant births & deaths 1864 for Catholic births, marriages & deaths Parish Registers Church of Ireland (COI) - some parish records begin in 1600’s - most 1750 - 1820 Presbyterian (P) – most after 1800 Methodist (M) - 1747 – 1816 kept with COI - 1816 – 1878 kept in Methodist churches Quaker (Q) – begin in 17th Century & continue uninterrupted Roman Catholic (RC) - some in late 18th Century - most by 1850 Civil Registration usually contain more detail than parish records, especailly some Protestant records. Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018

Locating Civil Registrations in Ireland 1864 to 1921 (All of Ireland): All records at General Record Office (GRO) in Dublin Index of all Ireland (each 5 yr period = €2.00/$2.62) Microfilm of original registers (copies €2.00/$2.62) 1921 to Present (Republic of Ireland): Same as above 1921 to Present (Northern Ireland): Manual search of B/M/D at the GRONI (£5.50/$8.69) Computerized search of index up to 6 hrs(£10/$15.80) Certified copies are (£11/$17.40) Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018

Online Access To Civil Registration Data FamilySearch.org Index of names with Registration District and FHL Film Number Order for local delivery to FHC in Essex ($7.50, 2-3 weeks) Ancestry.com Irish Family History Foundation (www.rootsireland.ie) Excellent Index to the records Immediate transcript of original document Cost of about $8.50 (compared to $7.50 & 2 week wait for film) Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018

Irish Family History Foundation Vermont Genealogy Library 17 Nov 2012

Some Tips on Civil Registration Research When using the GRO indexes (located in Dublin) order is alphabetical by surname keep spelling variations in mind!! When searching for births if looking for a Catholic and you know the location start with parish register first use that data to find the civil record Searching for marriages if both surnames known & you avoid spelling traps look in Registration District for both surnames start w/ 1st child and work back the surnames should be only ones w/ same vol. & page numbers Civil Registration usually contain more detail than parish records, especailly some Protestant records. Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018

Some Tips on Civil Registration Research “Late Registrations” not unusual for people to avoid registering events later in life they need proof of registration they come forward after 10 – 20 years (or later) How Late Registrations Were Recorded generally recorded in the original volume they would have used births & deaths were recorded in the back of that book marriages were written in the body of the book on that date Civil Registration usually contain more detail than parish records, especailly some Protestant records. Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018

Some Precautions When Working With Parish Registers The complexities of historical, political & ecclesiastical land divisions Civil parishes (COI) very often are not identical with Catholic parishes New divisions were often not consistent with pre-existing boundaries Unlike civil registers these parish records are kept in many different places NET: Know the religion, the time period & the geography before starting Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018

Where to Travel for Protestant Records Church of Ireland A Table of Church Of Ireland Parochial Records (NAI, NLI) Only definitive list of which parish records still exist 830 parish registers at the Representative Church Body Library Microfilm of records from 9 counties of Ulster at PRONI, Belfast Presbyterian (scattered in 3 locations) Registers exist at local parish, PRONI & Presbyterian Historical Society Microfilm copies of most local records kept at PRONI PRONI has list of records at PHS Methodist (it’s complicated) PRONI - list for 9 counties of Ulster - surviving registers, dates & locations Quaker Libraries of The Society Of Friends (Dublin & Lisburn, N.I.) FHL as microfilm of ROI copies; PRONI has microfilm of Ulster Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018

Where to Travel for Roman Catholic Records National Library of Ireland (NLI) Microfilmed 1,066 of 1,153 parishes Diocese of Cashel and Emly do not permit use of the records Diocese of Cloyne and Kerry require permission (usually granted) Family History Library (FHL) Microfilmed 398 of 1,153 parishes Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018

Online Sources of Parish Registers Ancestry.com ($) Index to FHL records – links to FHL film numbers for ordering (398/1153) FamilySearch.org (Free) Index of 398 parishes on microfilm with link to order Ancestry’s index is easier to use RootsIreland.ie ($) Indexed transcriptions of RC & COI records as well as some B, M, P & Q By far, the largest collection (same $8.50 for immediate results) AncestryIreland.ie ($) Many RC, COI & P registers from Counties Antrim & Down (NI) IrishGenealogy.ie (Free) Indexed transcriptions for counties Carlow & Kerry + Dublin City & part of Cork Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018

Other Online Vital Records Collections O’Kief, Coshe Mang (16 vols) FamilySearch.org has 12 RC parishes from Kerry & NW Cork www.rootsweb.com/~irllog/churchrecs.htm records of five Longford RC parishes interment.net/Ireland volunteers have added gravestone inscpriptions (no data on completeness) www.fermanagh.org/uk Fermanagh Gold has a good collection of inscriptions www.webone.com.au/~sgrieves/cemeteries_ireland.htm has a good selection, mostly from Tipperary (Source: Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, 3d ed., 2007, by John Grenham (pp. 145-6), Genealogy Pub. Co., Baltimore) Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018

Gravestone Inscriptions Less effort made to capture inscriptions & photos than in USA Some good collections exist – varies by county Many buried without headstones Headstone data often extensive name age date of death other deaths in family townland Often earliest records (pre-1800) In North – www.irish-world.ie & www.historyfromheadstones.com In ROI – check www.rootsireland.ie ($) Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018

Some Final Thoughts Effective use of Vital Records requires knowledge of land divisions, religion & history Surnames in Ireland are tied to the land – find the distribution in your target county - use Grenham’s Irish Surnames CD (available at the library) Don’t forget to check for databases by local/regional entities Searching for ancestors in VRs is best done w/ help from census data - Ireland’s 19th Century census records were destroyed Tithe Applotment Books and Griffith’s Valuations are the best census substitutes - both are covered in Lecture 3 (on December 15th) Vermont Genealogy Library 11/11/2018