Administrative Divisions And Genealogical Records
8:00pm Thursday 20 February 2014
Civic Rooms, Ennis Town Council, Drumbiggle Road
by Paddy Waldron
WWW version:
You can listen to the audio
version of this presentation (a 75.1MB .mp3 file) as you
read this web
version.
Introduction
- Remember Larry Brennan's mantra:
Genealogy is about names, dates and places.
These are the bones; family history is the flesh on those
bones.
- For most genealogical events, there are up to four different
associated places:
- the place where the event happened;
- the place where the event was originally recorded;
- the place where the original record is stored
today; and
- the place(s) or website(s) where a manual, photographic or
digital copy (or copies) of the record can be seen.
- In rural areas of Ireland, we can typically identify the townland
in which the event happened.
- In urban areas, we can typically identify the street
address at which the event happened.
- Sometimes renumeration occurs (e.g. Kilrush streets in
1846 Slater's Directory, 1855 Griffith's Valuation, 1901 Census,
1911 Census)
- The administrative division(s) in which the genealogical event
is or was recorded and stored depend on
- the townland where the event actually happened;
- the nature of the event; and
- the general time period.
- Unless a person's name is extremely rare, an all-Ireland index
will be of little use, and the appopriate administrative
subdivision in which to begin the search must be identified.
- Once we know the townland, we generally need maps and/or
lookup tables to figure out where to look for the record; see table
All maps and lookup tables relate to a specific date, which
should perhaps
be included in the above table. In some rows, the map and lookup
table links
are not contemporaneous.
The boundaries of many layers of administrative divisions have
been subject
to minor changes over time.
An example: where are we?
Here
in the
townland of Clonroad Beg ...
... in the civil parish of Drumcliff in the barony of Islands in
the county
of Clare in the province of Munster.
But the more rural parts of Clonroad Beg are divided between the
District
Electoral Divisions of Ennis Rural, Ennis No. 2 Urban, Ennis No. 3
Urban and
Ennis No. 4 Urban. The most urbanised part of Clonroad Beg is
divided into
streets, such as Drumbiggle Road (1901,
1911).
These
are all in the Dispensary District of Ennis in the Poor Law Union
of
Ennis (both pre- and post-Famine).
We are in the Catholic parish of Ennis in
the Catholic
diocese of Killaloe.
We are in the Church of Ireland Union of Drumcliffe
(Ennis) in the United Dioceses of Limerick & Killaloe,
Ardfert,
Aghadoe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, Kilmacduagh and Emly.
We are in the probate district of Limerick now served by the
Limerick/Clare
district probate registry.
Julius Caesar: Divide
and conquer -
divide et impera
- Ireland has been partitioned in different ways at many
different times in history.
- Making life simple for future genealogists was not important
to those creating records.
- Most administrative subdivisions are not signposted today, if
they ever were, and their boundaries are, at best, familiar only
to people living locally.
- The existence of signposts generally requires strong local
government or community spirit, and a budget!
- Ideally, selected layers of subdivisions could be superimposed
on online maps.
- It is worth investing a little effort to learn about the
different subdivisions and their uses.
- Understanding the system will save money squandered on
ordering the wrong records.
- Local spelling variations can be encountered in placenames as
well as personal names.
- Concentrate primarily on the PLACE itself on the map,
placeNAMEs are secondary.
- A good ear and eye for Irish placenames will help to identify
the relevant records, but trial and error may be required, and a
good knowledge of administrative divisions certainly is
required.
- Some website designers risk causing confusion by inventing
their own new terms (or even duplicate terms) for historic
subdivisions.
- Let's look briefly at the various layers from the smallest
subdivisions to the largest.
Townlands
- Pre-Norman origins.
- Boundaries mapped and spellings standardised by Ordnance
Survey of Ireland, Est. 1824, completed 1846.
- Spellings still vary greatly in everyday usage.
- 61,106(ish) townlands at logainm.ie.
- Searchable IreAtlas database
re-keyed from 1851 book by John Broderick R.I.P. (aka SeanRuad)
(d.2001).
- For each townland, the database shows in which County, Barony,
Civil Parish, Poor Law Union and Province it lies.
- Very few typos
in transcription and in 1851 book.
- Names are not unique: 236 townlands called Glebe.
- Parish name usually used to distinguish between two townlands
with the same name in the same county, e.g. Acres [Drumcreehy],
Acres [Feakle], Acres [Kilmacduane], all in county Clare.
- Townlands divided between different landlords: e.g.
Skehanierin (Egan) and Skehanierin (Stokes) in Kerry; Sallybank
(Merritt) and Sallybank (Parker) in Clare; Ballinacurra
(Bowman), Ballinacurra (Hart) and Ballinacurra (Weston) in
Limerick.
- To avoid ambiguity, one must use maps as well as indexes,
lists and databases.
- Original maps, e.g. Milltown,
St. Peter's Parish, county Dublin.
- Parish maps, e.g. townlands
in Killard parish.
- Traditional and ancient precursor of postcodes.
- Appear in some parish register entries.
- Appear on birth and death certificates, but not in indexes.
- Used to organise Griffith's Valuation.
- Used to organise 1901 and 1911 census returns.
- Official names not always used locally - e.g. Rhynagonaught,
Derryard, Parkduff, Clohanes and Doughmore near Doonbeg, county
Clare, are not official townland names.
- Of these, Clohanes comprises part or all of four townlands:
Cloonnagarnaun, Cloonmore, Carrowmore and Carrowmore North.
- Subtownland names historically and even today used locally -
e.g. in Clare, Pulleen
in Glascloon, Clifden and Newtown Killeen near Doonbeg; Newtown
in Carrownaweelaun, Oldtown in Knocknagarhoon.
- It is critically important to establish the official name of
the townland in which your ancestors lived and to locate it on
the OSI map.
- A recent example: Maurice
Costolo of Knocknamelagh and George
Costello of Pouldheehy.
- The former is Maurice
Costelloe of Kilgulbin East; the latter is grandson of Maurice Costelloe of
Ballyhorgan East.
- Small groups of townlands (average c.18 townlands per DED).
- Boundaries established by Poor Law Boundary Commission in
1830s, major revisions after the Famine.
- Initially, each electoral division elected one or more
Poor Law Guardian (PLG) to the local Board of Guardians
(comprising elected and ex officio guardians) which administered
the Workhouse.
- After the post-Famine revisions, each DED elected exactly
one PLG.
- Multi-seat constituencies were broken down into several
smaller single-seat constituencies.
- Post-Famine DEDs did not respect the boundaries of the
pre-Famine DEDs, e.g. in Moyarta
civil parish, county Clare.
- 3,493(ish) electoral divisions at logainm.ie.
- Names sometimes taken from a townland within the DED (e.g. Trienearagh,
county Kerry), sometimes not (e.g. St.
Martins, county Clare).
- Used to organise 1901 and 1911 census returns.
- DED names are not unique - two
Castletowns in County Limerick (facebook
discussion) and two Claudys in County (London)Derry; in
1911, one is spelled Clady,
but in 1901 both are spelled Claudy
and therefore merged.
- Names can change - Mount
Elva in 1901 became Ballyvaghan
in 1911.
- DEDs can be broken up - Dysert
in 1901 became Dysert
and Kilnamona
in 1911 (more details here).
- Also Kilkee
in 1901 became Kilkee
and Kilfearagh
in 1911.
- Since 1994, again known as Electoral Divisions.
- Excellent
maps at logainm.ie.
- Valuation Office cancelled books are bound by DED.
- Use the census
search form to find the DED in which a given townland
lies.
- If your ancestors lived in a DED which shared its name with a
townland, make sure whether or not they lived in that townland
itself.
- Small groups of DEDs (approximately 798 in total; average c.5
DEDs per Dispensary District).
- Boundaries established under the Medical Charities Act of
1851.
- Used for civil
registration of births, all marriages and deaths from 1
Jan 1864.
- One book for each Dispensary District for births, for
marriages and for deaths held in local (county) registration
offices today.
- Each Dispensary District had a Registrar, usually the local
dispensary doctor, who registered births and deaths; the clergy
were involved in registration of marriages.
- Sometimes took names of DEDs (underlined
on maps) and/or townlands within their boundaries.
- Often took now obscure names, e.g. in county Clare:
Annacarriga (includes Killaloe), Killanniv (includes Kilmaley),
Coolacasey (includes Sixmilebridge), Cragaknock (includes
Mullagh).
- Use the map
to find the Dispensary District in which a given DED lies.
- Appear on birth and death certificates, but not in civil
registration indexes.
- e.g., births
in Ballyhorgan from familysearch.org Ireland Births and
Baptisms (1860s and 1870s).
- Dispensary District boundaries usually respect DED boundaries,
but not in the case of Fontstown/Monasterevin/Athy.
- If Ireland Births and Baptisms shows a three-digit page number
(often misrecorded as a christening location), then the
placename always refers to the Dispensary District.
- Further discussion on Clare
Past Forum and Clare
County Library website.
- For people with common names, knowing the Dispensary District
makes it easier to locate the relevant birth records
(1864-1881).
- Under Poor Law (in England), care of the poor was
traditionally based on parishes.
- PLUs were (roughly) unions of parishes brought together to
care for the poor, each with its own workhouse.
- Boundaries of the original 130 PLUs were established by the
Poor Law Boundary Commission in the late 1830s.
- But parish and county boundaries were not always respected.
- e.g., in county Clare, Kilfinaghta parish was initially split
between Limerick and Ennis PLUs, with the Ennis part later
transferred to Tulla and finally Scarriff PLUs.
- Board of Guardians oversaw the running of the PLU.
- Used for pre-1864 civil marriage indexes.
- Boundaries of administrative divisions often changed over
time!
- Pre-Famine Poor Law Unions in County Clare:
- The system could not cope with famine conditions: see another
map
- 33 new PLUs were created: see yet
another map
- Use the townland
index (1851) to find the post-Famine PLU in which a given
townland lies.
- For example, Tulla PLU formally
came into being on 22 February 1850, created from the eastern
part of the Ennis Union and the south-western part of the
Scariff Union.
- In 1907, Clare County Council proposed the amalgamation of the
Tulla and Scariff unions.
- So some townlands were in Ennis to 1850, in Tulla from 1850 to
1907, and in Scariff after 1907!
- In the later years of Griffith's Valuation, the Valuation was
printed one PLU at a time, so all entries within the PLU refer
to the same date
- Post-Famine PLU appears as Registration District in Civil
Registration Indexes of BMDs (see sample page
from original index (1866)), so search by PLU
- e.g., only
five registrations in Tulla after 1908 (transcription
errors or late registrations?)
- With uncommon surnames, one can sometimes deduce that all
occurences of a name in a PLU are a single family, e.g. Brew
births in Killadysert
- Post-Famine Poor Law Unions in County Clare:
Source of images: The Poor Law Records of Counties Limerick,
Clare and
Tipperary by S.C. O’Mahony. Supplement to North Munster
Antiquarian
Journal vol. XXI 1979 via clarelibrary.ie.
- 2,568(ish) civil parishes in Ireland at logainm.ie
- Parishes a little bigger on average than DEDs
- Of early Christian origin
- Used as the basis of Tithe
Applotment Books (1823-1837)
- Used by the Established Church (Church of Ireland to 1800, United
Church of England and Ireland (1801-1870)), Anglican
Church - but parishes with small Anglican populations combined
into Unions from an early date.
- Boundaries mapped and spellings standardised by Ordnance
Survey of Ireland
- Civil parish boundaries may not respect townland boundaries:
- The townlands of Ballintogher and Dunguib on the Waldron
estate at Helen
Park and the adjoining townland of Springhill on the
Hemphill estate in county Tipperary all straddle the boundary
between the civil parishes of Graystown and Killenaule
- Civil parish boundaries may not respect county boundaries:
e.g. St. Munchin's, St. Patrick's and Killeely all straddle the
boundary between counties Clare and Limerick which causes confusion
on the Tithe
Applotment Books website
- Lewis
(1837) says that Stradbally civil parish (Castleconnell)
straddled the boundary between counties Limerick and Tipperary,
but the townland index and OSI
maps show otherwise
- There are 81
civil parishes wholly or partially in county Clare.
- Ireland
Reaching Out has its own ideas about Clare parishes (103):
- Ballyvaughan listed in addition to
Drumcreehy/Ballyvaughan, Gleninagh/Ballyvaughan and
Rathborney/Ballyvaughan
- Cratloe listed in addition to Kilfintinan and Killeely
- New Quay listed in addition to Abbey and Oughtmama
- Newmarket-on-Fergus listed in addition to Bunratty,
Tomfinlough, Kilnasoolagh, Drumline, Clonloghan and
Kilmaleery, but Kilconry omitted
- Clonrush also listed as Whitegate
- Drumcliff also listed as Ennis
- Feakle also listed as Caher Feakle
- Inchicronan also listed as Crusheen
- Kilfarboy also listed as Miltown Malbay
- Kilfearagh also listed as Kilkee
- Kilfinaghta also listed as Sixmilebridge
- Killimer also listed as Knockera [sic]
- Killuran also listed as O'Callaghan's Mills
- Kilmacrehy also listed as Liscannor
- Kilmanaheen also listed as Ennistymon
- Kilmoon also listed as Lisdoonvarna
- Kilseily also listed as Broadford
- Moyarta also listed as Carrigaholt
- Moynoe also listed as Scarriff
- St. Patrick's also listed as Parteen (but not as Meelick)
- Beagh coming soon
- St. Senan's (which one?) coming soon
- County Clare included in the list of parishes
- Use the townland index to
find the civil parish in which a given townland lies
- Catholic and civil parisheshave both evolved from the same
original mediaeval parishes; their boundaries have diverged
post-Reformation
- Gerard Curtin in Every Field Had a Name: The Place-names
of West Limerick (Sliabh Luachra Historical Society, 2012)
writes (p.2):
The details on Catholic parish boundaries are taken
from research work done by the Limerick Archives and Family
Ancestry when they were in operation at The Granary, Michael
Street, Limerick. Some of their research may not be seen as
correct in a small number of parishes, as in my travels I came
across varied opinions of Catholic parish boundaries. In cases
it was put forward that people in certain areas were paying
church dues to a certain parish or playing football or hurling
with another parish. However, where townlands are divided
between parishes the whole situation was locally generally
confused and it was decided to let the research stand ... the
boundaries of the civil parishes and the later Catholic
parishes were in almost all cases totally different.
- Often known by the name of the main town or village
- e.g., Kilfearagh/Kilkee, Killard/Doonbeg, Moyarta/Carrigaholt,
Kilballyowen/Cross
- Most rural Irish parishes actually have at least three names:
- (mediaeval) parish name
- (modern) town or village name
- the saint(s) (etc) to whom the church(es) in the parish
are dedicated (mainly used by the diaspora, mainly in U.S.
cities, who have grown up with an affiliation to their urban
parish and the associated saint(s) (etc); it generally rings
no bells with the native Irish living outside the parish)
- Two or more adjoining parishes were often split or merged
- See table with
examples from `Kilrush Poor Law Union and the Parishes of West
Clare' in the Clare Association Yearbook 2014 pp.46-50.
- Catholic parishes hown on irishgenealogy.ie
as Parish/Church/Congregation when the Area is (RC)
- Marriages traditionally took place in the bride's home parish
- Many new brides also returned to their mothers' homes and
parishes for the birth and baptism of their first child
- But once railway transport became commonplace, strong farmers
and the merchant class often travelled to a more fashionable big
town or city for weddings, e.g. Ennis, Limerick, Dublin, even
London, nowadays Italy
- Check whether the townland in which your ancestors lived was
always in the same Catholic parish that it is in today
- If PLU and Dispensary District boundaries did not respect
parish boundaries, then marriages in the local church could be
registered in a different PLU or Dispensary District from home
births and deaths
- e.g., there are eight
townlands in Kilmurry Ibrickan civil parish which lie in
Ennistimon Poor Law Union, with the remainder of the civil
parish, including the churches, in Kilrush PLU
- traditionally every diocese had access to the coast or major
inland waterways, so that the Bishop could travel to Rome
without passing through another diocese
- Diocesan boundaries respect parish boundaries!
- 26 Catholic dioceses in Ireland at Catholic-Hierarchy
- 12 Anglican
dioceses
- see map
of Catholic Archdioceses, Dioceses and Provinces
- e.g., Killaloe is both a town in county Clare and a
diocese extending over parts of counties Clare, Limerick,
Tipperary, Offaly and Laois, extending almost (but not quite) as
far as Borris-in-Ossory
in the Diocese
of Ossory.
- Canon Law gives parish clergy responsibility for Catholic
parish registers, but they are usually influenced by diocesan
policy
- 346 baronies at logainm.ie (average c.7
parishes per barony)
- may not respect other boundaries, e.g. Knocknahooan
townland (Moyarta/Clonderalaw) or Kilmacduane parish (Acres
townland in Ibrickan; remainder in Moyarta)
- Probate
districts, set up in 1858, appear to have respected
baronial boundaries, but not county boundaries
- In the earlier years of Griffith's Valuation, the Valuation
was printed one barony at a time, so all entries within the
barony refer to the same date
- used in lists of freeholders
- e.g. 1821
- each barony was policed by a high constable
- fell into disuse after introduction of the Irish Constabulary
and especially of county councils in 1898
- Ireland was shired in the middle ages (Kerry and Wicklow in
around 1606 were the last counties formally established)
- The only mention of counties (or any administrative
subdivisions of the State other than Dáil constituencies) in the
Constitution
is the right of Councils to nominate candidates for the
presidency
- Article 28A, inserted in 1999, provides for local government,
but not for any associated administrative subdivisions
- traditionally 32 counties
- "County Fingal" established c.1994, signposts didn't last long
- County Councils established 1898
- The area around Whitegate and Mountshannon moved from county
Galway to county Clare in 1898 (Clonrush parish and most of
Inishcaltra parish)
- Based on a mixture of diocesan and county boundaries
- Different boundaries for different religious denominations
- e.g., St. Paul's Catholic parish in Dublin part of Swords
Heritage Centre; St. Paul's Church of Ireland parish part
of irishgenealogy.ie
"City or Town" for "Last Permanent Residence" and/or "Place of
Birth" on
Ellis Island Manifests
- Four McNamara siblings from the townland of Moveen West in the
DED of Moveen, dispensary district of Carrigaholt, parish of
Moyarta, barony of Moyarta, Poor Law Union of Kilrush, and
County of Clare all gave their Last Permanent Residence as
Ireland, Kilkee. Catherine and Annie gave their Place of Birth
as Ireland, Kilkee, but John and Martin gave theirs as Ireland,
Moveen.
- Probably the same as Post
Town, as listed in Jane
Lyons's Catholic Parish index based
on A Complete Catholic Registry, Directory and
Almanack (1836 edn.)
- Four or five? (Meath)
- County boundaries are respected
GAA Provinces
- Galway were 2012 Leinster Hurling Champions!
Catholic Provinces
- Four, one under each archdiocese (see map)
- Diocesan boundaries are respected
Anglican Provinces
Electoral Constituencies
- Boundaries reviewed after each census
- Cuid a Dó last published 1985
- 01, 02, 04, 05, 06, 07/09
- A future genealogical source (after mobiles replace
landlines!)
Examples
- Doonbeg
DED provides good examples of most of the anomalies that can
arise in dealing with Irish administrative divisions. Doonbeg
DED comprises eight townlands. Doonbeg townland is divided into
two parts for the 1911 census, Doonbeg Town and plain Doonbeg,
the rural part of the townland. In local usage, parts of Doonbeg
townland are known by local names such as Rhynagonaught. Five of
the eight townlands are in Killard civil parish and the other
three in Kilmacduane civil parish. The Killard townlands and one
of the Kilmacduane townlands (Acres) are in Ibrickan barony; the
other two Kilmacduane townlands are in Moyarta barony. Three of
the Killard townlands (Cloonmore, Carrowmore and Carrowmore
North), along with Cloonnagarnaun in Cloonadrum DED, are known
locally as Clohanes, and are separated from the rest of Killard
parish by the Scivileen river. The road from Clohanes to the
rest of Doonbeg parish goes through Kilmacduane parish.
Carrowmore South townland, which does not adjoin Carrowmore
North townland, is in Knocknagore DED but still in Killard civil
parish.
- This talk has been largely a top-down approach; for a
bottom-up case study of Moyarta
civil parish in county Clare see the Ireland Reaching Out
website.
Other map websites
There are many other map websites which might have been included
in the accompanying table,
including