Wednesday 12 February 2014

Ballymena genealogy resource heading for upgrade

The Genealogy section of the Mid-Antrim Museum website will be revamped during the course of this year and some new records added.

The current database offers free access to transcriptions of headstone inscriptions from 41 of Ballymena's 42 graveyards (only the Old Churchyard is not included).

Museum Assistant Noreen Mullan told Irish Genealogy News that the planned revamp will include a map of the churchyards and a trail for researchers to follow. The trail will also be the subject of an exhibition planned for November.

Additionally, records of interments and plot owners in 17 burial places* will be added. There is already one such collection – Clough Interments – available to download in pdf format from the website. This sets out details of interments from the late 1880s and include the age of the deceased, address, rank or profession. Depressingly, the churchyard seems to be full of farmers and locals recorded as 'poor man', 'poor woman', or 'poor man's child'.

Also on the site is a well-designed free booklet on researching ancestors in Mid-Antrim. It will soon be joined by a summary of genealogical resources held by Ballymena Borough Council.

* While we await the revamp, those eager to search these records should skip over to GenealogyGirl's blog where they can be downloaded.