Genealogy for Beginners

Mary Immaculate College History Society

Room T.201 Tara Building

7:30pm

Wednesday 19 Mar 2014

by Paddy Waldron

WWW version: http://www.pwaldron.info/MaryI/

Outline:

Where do I start?

• Where are you coming from?
• Where do you want to go?
• What do you want to know?
• `The obvious gains many marks'.
• Start with yourself! Then work backwards in time.
• Start with a blank pedigree chart, then eight more for your eight greatgrandparents, and so on (powers of 2).
• Go sideways as necessary (to siblings and cousins of your direct ancestors) in order to go backwards.
• Genealogy draws on and can be integrated into many different subjects on the primary and secondary curricula - e.g. history, mathematics, statistics, information technology, geography, biology, genetics, civics, etc.
• Start with free software like Ancestral Quest Basics AND online backup like tribalpages or WorldConnect or TNG (or vice versa if you have really fast broadband or are working in collaboration with a co-author: master copy online and backup offline)
• e.g. http://pwaldron.info/tng/ starting with me
• Genealogy software and websites allow all information to be easily imported and exported using GEDCOM files; don't use anything which doesn't have this facility.
• Talk to those who may know more than you.
• Start with your oldest and/or most knowledgeable relatives
• Start with relatives or others who have already done some research - don't reinvent the wheel - avoid unnecessary guesswork or trial-and-error - but verify everything
• Start with your family papers - chocolate box, biscuit tin or butter box:
  • in memoriam cards
  • newscuttings
  • family bible
  • title deeds
  • wills or intestacies (no will, maybe a pedigree affidavit)
  • photographs
  • etc.
• Start with names, dates and places
• Then add the social history, photographs, etc.
• This talk will concentrate on the importance of place
• Start with freely available online sources, working backwards in time from the most recent.
• Join a genealogy or local history society, e.g. Clare Roots Society

Basic free online sources

The first objective is to verify your family's oral traditions in primary sources; then to go back beyond the oral traditions.

Remember that not every record for a John Murphy refers to the John Murphy from whom you descend.

Even if your ancestor's surname is less common than John Murphy, the same principles apply.

Avoid forcing a fact to fit the story.

Although the 1911 census may imply that your ancestor John Murphy was born in County Limerick in 1852, the first baptism that you find for a John Murphy in County Limerick in 1852 may NOT be your ancestor.

Be even more careful with secondary sources: if someone else's online family tree has a John Murphy born in County Limerick in 1852, he may NOT be your John Murphy.

The most basic source is Google, which is great for more unusual names or combinations of names, like "quin sleeman"; but Google, by accident or design, does not harvest many genealogy sites.

The major free online Irish sources, roughly in reverse chronological order, include:

FamilySearch.org --- Irish Civil Registration Indexes 1845-1958

See sample page from original index (1866)

FamilySearch.org's one-size-fits-all search form can mislead beginners. The indexes don't include spouse or parents, apart from the birth index from c1928-1958, which includes mother's maiden surname only. To narrow the search, you can fill in one of (a) birth date and/or place (b) marriage date and/or place or (c) death date and/or place. Filling in fields which are blank in the record you want will prevent you from finding it. More details here.

FamilySearch.org --- Ireland Births and Baptisms mostly 1864-1881

See sample birth record

To narrow the search, you can fill in both parents' first and/or last names and/or birth date and/or place. The appropriate placename to use varies from year to year and from record to record. Try townland or dispensary district or Poor Law Union or county.

FamilySearch.org --- Ireland Marriages mostly 1845-1870

See sample page from marriage register

To narrow the search, you can fill in spouse's and/or father's first and/or last names and/or marriage date and/or place. Irish marriage certificates did not until relatively recently include the name of either the groom's mother or the bride's mother.

FamilySearch.org --- Ireland Deaths mostly 1864-1870

See sample death record

To narrow the search, you can fill in death date and/or death place and/or residence place. Irish death certificates did not include the name of any relative until c2004, unless the informant happened to be a relative, and even then the relationship may not have been specified. If it was, then the relationship may be shown in the transcript. The appropriate placename to use is generally the townland.

Full familysearch.org search

In some non-Irish records the familysearch.org transcriptions may include father's first name, mother's first name and mother's last name, but not father's last name! See, for example, many entries in New Jersey, Marriages, 1678-1985. You must leave the father's last name blank if you want to find these records.

1901 and 1911 Census of Ireland

Irish Genealogy

parish records, free for only about 4 counties, mostly pre-1900

Alternative search form.

Griffiths Valuation (askaboutireland Family Name Search or Place Name Search - free)

It's apparently not possible to link to specific map locations - see discussion. It is possible to link to the occupiers of a specific location using the PlaceID, e.g. Moveen West (PlaceID=257300). To view Original Page or Map View, right click on icon and select "Open Link in New Tab".

Griffiths Valuation (Irish Origins - subscription)

Griffiths Valuation (Find My Past - subscription; also includes Landed Estates Court Rentals)

Griffiths Valuation, printed in the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s for different parts of Ireland,, is continued up to around the abolition of rates in 1977 in Valuation Office cancelled books, Irish Life Centre, Abbey Street, Dublin; e.g., Moore Street, Kilrush

Lewis, Samuel: Topographical Dictionary of Ireland 1837

Tithe Applotment Books 1823-1837

Available online since November 2012. Edit the URL to see results 100 at a time.

Wills and Administrations 1858-1982

Different access methods for different subperiods.

Continue with offline sources (General Register Office, Valuation Office, National Library, National Archives, local libraries and archives, etc.) and subscription, pay-per-view, etc., online sources (findmypast.ie, rootsireland.ie, ancestry.ie, irishtimes.com, irishnewsarchive.com, etc.)

Documenting Sources

• Use a digital camera or scanner to make digital images of as much as possible, including both sides of photographs, documents, letters, envelopes, etc.
• Use the Source fields in your genealogy software
• Use a bibliographic database like BibTeX
• Copy and paste the web address/location/uniform resource locator (URL) where you find your online information from the Address Bar to the notes field in your genealogy database
• If the website subsequently disappears, or if you find a subsequently changed link on any web page, you may find what you want in the Wayback Machine

Irish administrative divisions and genealogical records

• Eventually, you will come to an ancestor who you cannot find in the obvious place
  • possibly because records have not survived
  • possibly because of unexpected spelling variations in personal and/or place names
  • possibly because it is not obvious which of many individuals (or parallel families) sharing a common name (or names) is the right one
• Searching by place may be the easiest way to find or identify your ancestors
• 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.
• The following tips aim to prevent any possible confusion

An example: where are we?

Here in the townland of Courtbrack ...

... in St. Michael's civil parish in the barony of Pubblebrien in the county of Limerick in the province of Munster.

But Courtbrack Avenue was the Municipal Boundary, dividing the townland into two parts, one within the city limits, the other outside the city limits.

In the 1911 census, the more rural part of Courtbrack was in Limerick South Rural District Electoral Division; the more urban part appears to have been in Dock Limerick Urban No. 4 DED.

However, Ballinacurra Creek was the western boundary of Limerick No. 4 (St. Michael's) Registrar's District, which therefore contained all of Courtbrack.

We are in the Poor Law Union of Limerick (both pre- and post-Famine).

We are in the Catholic parish of St. Joseph's which extends "out to the end of Ballinacurra" and is in the Catholic diocese of Limerick

We are in the Church of Ireland Union of Limerick Cathedral (limerick st mary) 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

• 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.

• 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.

(District) Electoral Divisions (DEDs)

• 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.

Dispensary Districts or Dispensary and Registration Districts or Registrar's Districts

• 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).
• At rootsireland.ie, dispensary districts are referred to, quite misleadingly, as "Civil Parish / District", as "Parish / District" and as "the Parish field".

Pre-Famine Poor Law Unions (PLUs) or Registrar's Districts or Registration Districts

• 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:

Post-Famine Poor Law Unions or Superintendent Registrar's Districts or Registration Districts

• 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.

Civil Parishes

• 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 Parishes

• 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

Dioceses or Areas (at irishgenealogy.ie)

• 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

Baronies

• 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

Counties

• 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)

Irish Family History Foundation (IFHF) Centres

• 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.)

Provinces

• 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

• Only two (see map)

Electoral Constituencies

• Boundaries reviewed after each census

Telephone Area Codes

• 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. The area in Killard civil parish known locally as Clohanes can be confused with the townland of Cloghaundine in the civil parish of Kilmacrehy, a few parishes up the coast, also known locally as Clohanes. The two places known locally as Clohanes are both in county Clare, but the one in Killard civil parish is in the Catholic diocese of Killaloe and the one in Kilmacrehy civil parish is the Catholic diocese of Galway. Back in Killard civil parish, there is also atownland called Carrowmore South, which does not adjoin Carrowmore North townland, and is in Knocknagore DED.
• 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.

Where do I finish?

• Summary: In rural areas, the townland is the smallest unit and only rarely is a townland divided between larger units, such as parishes. So always give the address as the townland. If there are multiple townlands with the same name, then you must also give some larger unit to identify it uniquely. If there is only one townland of the name in a county, give the address as [Townland], county [County]. If there is more than one townland of the name in the county, then give the address as [Townland], [Parish] parish, county [County].
• A family history is never finished!
• Keep trying to go back another generation
• Explore new sources
• Revisit old sources
• Trace the emigrants
• Add current births, marriages and deaths
• Do a one name study
  • for an unsual surname, because it is easy to document everyone of that surname
  • for a common surname, because the easiest way to prove that a record relates to your ancestor is to prove that it doesn't relate to any of his or her unrelated contemporary namesakes
• Genetic genealogy