Tuesday 16 December 2014

Ulster Historical Foundation adds eight new databases

The Ulster Historical Foundation (UHF) has added a bumper crop of eight new databases to the members' section of its website at AncestryIreland.com. In total, this latest upload adds more than 36,300 names to its online collection.

The largest single new database holds more than 27,000 indexed records from the burial registers of Milltown Cemetery on Belfast's Falls Road, which is the main Catholic cemetery in the city. The register dates from 1869, when the cemetery opened, to 1895 and contains the name, age and address of the deceased as well as the date of burial. It's an invaluable resource for researching Belfast ancestors, many of whom, like most city dwellers, moved frequently.

In addition to the burial register, a separate database holds the names and addresses of more than 1,600 buyers of burial plots in Milltown Cemetery between 1924 and 1931.

The other new databases fall into two categories:

19th century records:
More than 5,400 names by townland and parish from the 1803 Agricultural Census for County Down, as well as the names of those subscribing to the publication of the ‘Historic Memorials of the First Presbyterian Church in Belfast’ in 1887 and the names of members of First Derry Presbyterian Church by pew number from the year 1883.

Earlier records: These have been transcribed by the UHF's volunteers and include a petition by residents of the parishes of Kilrea and Tamlaght O’Crilly in County Londonderry which declared the signatories to be opposed to the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland in 1745; a list of those who were restored to their estates in Ireland by King Charles II in 1660; and a list of those people who were issued with transplanters’ certificates in 1653 and 1654 to move to Connaught.

Together with an existing collection of 200+ databases holding more than 775,000 names, these eight databases are available free to members of the Ulster Genealogical and Historical Guild. You can find full details of the benefits of membership (a year's subscription is currently £33) at AncestryIreland.