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