Killoughter Vestry Minute Book 1813–1916 released

The Representative Church Body Library (RCBL) has published a colourful online presentation of the Killoughter Vestry Minute Book, 1813–1916 as November's Archive of the Month slot on the Church of Ireland website.

Alongside parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials, vestry books form an important and significant component of the records of the Church of Ireland as they record the civil and religious activities of the parish, the administrative decisions of the vestry, and details of those responsible for taking those decisions.

The earliest vestry minute book for the parish of Killoughter (located in north Cavan, close to the village of Redhills) provides a unique record of the origins, development and concerns of this rural parish in the diocese of Kilmore, from its establishment in 1813 up to 1916.

The records of the vestry meetings include the names of those who held the principal vestry offices and were usually signed by the clergy, who traditionally chaired the meetings, and in some instances by the churchwardens or other members of the vestry who had attended the meeting. Frequently the addresses of these individuals are included in the records, providing valuable detail for family historians.

Wider issues relevant to the Church and of social and economic concern to the rural Cavan community are raised in the volume, for example the parish cess – the tax levied on the occupants of the parish, regardless of their religious denomination – which was particularly unpopular with local Roman Catholics and Presbyterians who gained no benefits in paying it. The May 1841 even records the names of individuals nominated to collect the tax in each townland.

The online exhibition has been researched and written by Dr Jonathan Cherry, an historical geographer and lecturer at Dublin City University (DCU). "Peppered with the names of people and places, the importance of the vestry book to genealogists cannot be over-estimated," he says. "However, having had the opportunity to read through and write a short commentary on the vestry book, I was struck by the rich incidental information contained in the manuscript, and in particular the detail that allowed insights to be formed into the landscape of rural Cavan in the early 19th century and the social conditions prevailing at that time."

The entire Killoughter vestry minute book has been digitised and is available to view, free, from the Archive of the Month presentation page (click the link above).

Latest updates to Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives

Headstone in Sligo Cemetery (click for larger view).
Photo courtesy IGPArchives and Kev Murray

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives (IGP-web) has uploaded a good mix of new records and images to its database in the second half of October. They've all been submitted by volunteers and the files are made available to all Irish family historians absolutely free.

LONGFORD Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Aughaboy Cemetery

LOUTH Genealogy Archives - Land
Rentals & Properties - 1835

MAYO Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Guesdian Cemetery, Ballinafad
Killeadan Cemetery
St. Thomas (CoI) Graveyard Knappagh

MEATH Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St. Mary's (Right Side), Navan A-B)

ROSCOMMON Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Aughrim Old Cemetery (Updated)

SLIGO Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Sligo Cemetery Middle Part, Section E (K-W)

WESTMEATH Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Clonmellon Cemetery (Partial)

WEXFORD Genealogy Archives - Memorial Cards
Wexford Memorial (aka Funeral) Cards (Updated)

National Archives of Ireland's free Genealogy Service returns to full time operation

The National Archives of Ireland (NAI) has announced that its free Genealogy Service will today return to a full time operation (9:30am to 5pm with a half hour for lunch), Monday to Friday.

This is terrific news. In response to the financial crisis, the service was cut back to just 3.5 hours a day, so it is excellent to see it being fully restored. It will continue to operate from a dedicated room off the main Reading Room at the NAI premises at Bishop Street, Dublin 8.

Members of Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI) will be providing the service, as they have done for most of the last decade or so, delivering free advice to those researching their own Irish family history, whether using sources online or in the national record repositories in Dublin and Belfast, or on a local level. Every day, one of AGI's panel of professional genealogists will be on hand to help and assist with genealogical enquiries, from the most basic to the most complex.

There is no appointment system. Researchers simply turn up and wait their turn.

To avail of this free service, visiting family historians must have an NAI Reader’s Ticket. The ticket is free and you need to attend in person with two forms of identification: photo ID and a recent utility bill). There are more details about the Reader's Ticket procedure on the NAI website.

Tyrone Courier joins British Newspaper Archive

The Tyrone Courier is the latest Northern Ireland title to join the British Newspaper Archive. Eventually the holding for this weekly paper will span 1880 to 1909. For now, only the 1899 and 1903 editions have made it to the database.

Historical newspapers often remind me of Hartley's 'the past is a foreign country' phrase, but the editorial choices of this particular paper seem positively bizarre, even for the period.

It's a curious 'local' paper, with large sections given over to international news, gardening, cooking recipes, sport results (none related to Ireland), the serialisation of a book, and randomly shoe-horned jokes, none of which has survived the passage of time with rib-tickling humour intact.

Taking the 15 January 1903 edition as an example, a huge proportion is given up to what I can only describe as 'oddities' from around the world. These unexpected stories include details of a Spanish toreador who, with only a bruise on his leg to show for his efforts, had made a £12,000 profit in the previous season by killing 133 bulls; the transformation of the Royal Aquarium in Westminster into a Methodist Church House; a row of corn 25 miles long planted in Kansas, and the execution of a murderer, dragged kicking and screaming to the guillotine, in the French city of Lille. The story below – Lunatic's Telepathy – is from the same issue.

Meanwhile, just one line – 'There was a great flood in the Ballinderry River last Tuesday' – is the only mention of an event affecting a local rural community on the Tyrone/Derry border.

At least there are reports of the Quarter Sessions at Dungannon, Cookstown and Moneymore!

Irish genealogy & history events: 31 Oct to 12 Nov

Monday 31 October: Bank holiday in Republic of Ireland only. Halloween island-wide.

Tuesday 1 November: Visit to NIFHS Research Centre. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Belfast Branch. Venue: North of Ireland Family History Society, Unit C4, 67, Valley Business Centre, Church Rd, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim BT36 7LS. 7pm. Email Branch.

Tuesday 1 November: Sisters, Surgeons and Soldiers on the Somme: 144 days of Casualty Management, with Dr Yvonne McEwen. A Decade of Centenaries event. Venue: Randalstown Library, 34 New St, Randalstown, Co Antrim, BT41 3AF 6:30pm. Booking recommended: Email - randalstown.library@librariesni.org.uk. All welcome. Free.

Wednesday 2 November: The love life of Michael Collins and the Irish Civil War, with Marcus Howard. Host: Easter Rising Stories and Brent Culture Service. Venue: Willesden Green Library Centre, 95 High Road, Willesden, London NW10 2SU, UK. 6:30pm–7:45pm. Free but seating limited so booking is recommended. Register.

Wednesday 2 November: WW1 in North Antrim, with Alex Blair. A Decade of Centenaries event. Host: Portrush Library and the Ulster-Scots Agency. Venue: Portrush Libary, 12 Causeway Street, Portrush, Co Antrim BT56 8AB. 2pm–4pm. Free. All welcome. Booking recommended: 028 7082 3718.

Thursday 3 November: Delayed Opening at National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. To facilitate a staff development meeting, all NLI locations and services (including the free Genealogy Service) will be closed until 11am.

Saturday 5 November: Local History Day. Host and venue: Dublin City Library & Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2. From 9:45am to 4:15pm. All welcome. Free. No booking. Lecture schedule.

Saturday 5 November: The Archaeology of religion in Tipperary, with Richard O'Brien. Host & venue: Tipperary County Museum, Mick Delahunty Square, Clonmel, Co Tipperary. 10:30am. €5. All welcome. Seats will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Saturday 5 November: DNA and the Peopling of Europe, with Roy Keys. Host: Fermanagh Genealogy Centre. Venue: Enniskillen Castle, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. 2pm to 3:30pm. Free, but you need a ticket. Details.

Monday 7 November: How to Start your Family Tree, with Gillian Hunt, Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Killyleagh Branch. Venue: Killyleagh Masonic Hall, 50 High Street, Killyleagh, Co Down BT30 9QF. 8pm. All welcome.

Monday 7 November: Derry - The First Million Years: a geological and historical story, with Sean McMahon. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Foyle Branch. Venue: Derry Central Library, 35 Foyle Street, Londonderry, BT48 6AL. 7pm. All welcome.

Tuesday 8 November: 'All changed, changed utterly...'? Ireland 1916-1918, a History Ireland Hedge School. Host and venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Free. 7pm. No booking required. Details.

Tuesday 8 November: Nurses, Medics and Volunteers of World War I, with Dr Johanne Devlin Trew. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Lisburn Branch. Venue: Bridge Community Centre, 50 Railway Street, Lisburn, BT28 1XP. 7:30pm. All welcome.

Tuesday 8 November: Tracing Irish Police Ancestors, with Jim Herlihy. Host: Genealogical Society of Ireland. Venue: Dún Laoghaire Further Education Institute, Cumberland Street, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. Donation €3. All welcome. 8pm.

Wednesday 9 November Steelboys, Oakboys and Bad Boys: the troubled County of Armagh, 1750 to 1800, with Dr Eoin Magennis. Part of the County Armagh Lecture Series. Host and venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1pm. Free. Booking recommended - email proni@communities-ni.gov.uk to secure your place. (Lecture rearranged from 12 October.)

Thursday 10 November: WWI Ireland: Exploring the Irish Experience, an exhibition tour. Host and venue: National Library of Ireland, 2/3 Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Booking is not required. All welcome. 2pm.

Thursday 10 November: From revival to rebellion, with Roddy Hegarty. Host: Libraries NI. Venue: Lisburn City Library, Linenhall St, Lisburn BT28 1FJ. 6:30pm to 7:30pm. Free. All welcome. Booking recommended: 028 9266 9345 or lisburncity.library@librariesni.org.uk.

Thursday 10 November: Dungannon in WW1, with Robert Butler. Host: Western Front Association. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 6:30pm. £4 donation requested. All welcome. No booking.

Thursday 10 November: Starting Irish family history, with Maureen Doyle and Beryl O'Gorman. Host and venue:Genealogical Society of Victoria, Level B1 257 Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia 3000. 10am to 12Noon. Members $30/non-members $60/affiliated groups $45. Need to register. Details.

Thursday 10 November: Forgotten Soldiers: The Irishmen Shot at Dawn, with Stephen Walker. Host: Carrickfergus Museum. Venue: Carrickfergus Town Hall, Joymount, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, BT37 7DN. 7:30pm. Light refreshments will be served. Free, but you need to book a seat. Email: carrickfergusmuseums@midandeastantrim.gov.uk. Tel: 02893 358241.

Friday 11 November: Reading Room closed in the morning – National Archives of Ireland, Bishop Street, Dublin 8.

Saturday 12 November: A Tale of Two Cemeteries – a poignant story of two forgotten girls, with Harman Scott. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Tyrone Branch. Venue: Omagh Library, Dublin Road, Omagh, BT78 1HL. 10am. All welcome.

Saturday 12 November: The Irish Way of Death. Host: The Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas. Venue: South Woulfe Alumni Hall, Anderson Student Center, St Paul campus, Minnesota 55105, USA. 1pm–5:30pm. Free and open to the public. Details.

Saturday 12 November: The National Library's History & Heritage, an introduction to the Library's rich architectural history and the Signatories exhibition, plus a guided tour of the Reading Room.  Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Admission free. All welcome. 1pm. No need to book.

The Forgotten Irish: a heartbreaking education for Irish family historians

Published by The History Press Ireland

I'd been looking forward to publication of The Forgotten Irish by Damian Shiels for some time, and it has completely lived up to expectations.

Its 288 pages hold the stories of 35 Irish families who lost loved ones who served in the US military between 1861 and 1910, the majority through the American Civil War. The narratives have been developed from the rich files of the widows' and dependents' pension record collection held at the National Archives in Washington DC (not online), which holds the claims and supporting documentation relating to the families of 1.3million deceased servicemen, many thousands of them Irish. The individual files hold military records, baptismal records, medical reports and affidavits showing the deceased soldier supported the claimant financially, as well as original letters exchanged by the family and serviceman.

The latter provide the most poignant details for each real-life story told by the author, and many of them have been carefully transcribed in the book, capturing the emotions of the writer and the atmosphere of the time.

The book and the stories it tells are arranged into four themes, as Damian explains in his Preface: "The first two sections, 'Wives and Parents', and 'Community and Society', emphasise the lives of soldiers' families... and seek to illustrate how the pension files can be used to examine topics such as family emigration, chain migration, financial dependence and the maintenance of tranatlantic connections, as well as social issues.... The final two sections, 'A Life in Letters' and 'A Death in Letters', are aimed at providing a direct insight into the lives and emotions of some of these emigrant soldiers, using their own correspondence, and also at investigating how their loved ones received news of, and coped with, their deaths."

By their nature, the stories are sad. They are also incredibly rich with detail about the Irish emigrant experience and the lives of those left behind, either in Ireland or in America. I consider this book a must-read for the Irish family historian. It's easily my book of the year.

The Forgotten Irish: Irish Emigrant Experiences in America is now available in good bookshops in Ireland and online (The History Press Ireland, Amazon, Book Depository etc.).

FindMyPast adds Wicklow and Dublin publications

FindMyPast has added a number of publications today relating to Counties Wicklow and Dublin.

• Corn Growers, Carriers & Traders, County Wicklow, 1788, 1789 & 1790
  
• Kilcoole School Registers, 1862
  
• Newcastle School Registers, 1864-1948
  
• Shillelagh & Ballinacor South Memorial, 1837
  
• The People of Wicklow 1798: The Rebellion
  
• Booterstown School Registers 1862-1872 & 1891-1939
  
• Whitelaw’s Census Street Index Dublin City 1798
  
• Petitioners Against Closure of Kill O’ The Grange Cemetery 1864
  
• Glasthule, Harold (Boys) School Registers 1904-1948
  
• Dalkey, St Patrick’s School Registers 1894-1970
  
• Dun Laoghaire, Rathdown Memorial Inscriptions

All originally published by the Genealogical Society of Ireland (GSI), these titles are, as far as I'm aware, making their online debut.

Today's upload additionally includes publication of local indexes and transcriptions of censuses for Counties Cavan, Kilkenny and Dublin. These were compiled by the GSI's volunteers long before the National Archives of Ireland's free Genealogy website made all of Ireland's surviving census returns freely available (and now additionally available on FindMyPast and elsewhere). I have not included these publications in the list here. If you're interested to see them, just follow the links above.

Republic of Ireland: Bank holiday, Monday 31 October

There's a long weekend ahead for the Republic of Ireland, where Monday 31 October will be a bank holiday. Most libraries and archives will be closed on that day.

The major exception is the National Library of Ireland in Dublin. While its exhibitions will be open 12Noon to 5pm, the Reading Rooms in Kildare Street will be closed. It's free Genealogy Service won't be running, either.

Public lending and local studies libraries in Dublin and around the country will be closed on both the Saturday (29th) and the Bank Holiday Monday, returning to regular hours from Tuesday.

This bank holiday does not apply in Northern Ireland where repositories, libraries and commercial enterprises are open for business as normal.

More County Armagh records join RootsIreland

RootsIreland.ie has added 1,147 new records to its County Armagh database, as follows:

Derrynoose Tithe Accounts 1785-1787: This collection holds 850 records of tithe payers by townland.

1821 Census of Armagh: This 1821 Census transcript for some townlands in various County Armagh parishes come from the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (source T636). It is a hand-transcribed record which would most likely have been taken from the original Census return and transcribed pre-1922, when the original records were destroyed in the PRO fire. It is not included in the more mainstream collections of Irish census fragments available at the National Archives of Ireland and elsewhere. A copy of this record can be obtained from Armagh Ancestry.

View a full list of County Armagh sources currently on RootsIreland.

The new Townland Valuation Translator breaks the 'code' used by Griffith's surveyors (1824–1856)

Here's something new and different: the TownlandValuationTranslator.com.

It's been devised by Irish genealogist John Schnelle from Boston, who has combined his interests in maps and the history of rural agriculture with a drive to apply new technology to genealogy research, to unlock the 'code' used by the surveyors in their Field and House books. He aims to translate their findings into digestible information about our ancestors, their land, what they grew, and how they would have worked and managed their land holding, however small.

I checked out how my maternal ancestors near Caher would have fared – the Townland Valuation Translator described their land holding as 'second class wheat land', yielding high quality and quantity of crops with proportionally low investments of time, labour and financial resources.'

By contrast, my paternal ancestors near Clonakilty had a harder time surviving. Their land was 'third class oat land', the 'least valuable class of soil' (which probably explains why they gave up half of it to the sea about 70 years ago!).

The Translator's detailed reports make for interesting reading, not just about what would have been grown and the likely rotation of crops for such a land holding. It also gives an analysis of how my ancestors would have managed and worked their land, whether it was suited to the use of a plough or other tools; how a horse might, or might not, have been loaned occasionally to facilitate the cultivation or harvest; and how the difficulty of working the poorer land might have required community input and a lot of potatoes for dinner! The translator delivers a good spread of detail about how our rural ancestors lived.

The website is still in beta right now, and only the Field Books can be fully interpreted, thus far. Check it out. First up, search for your family in the Valuation Office Books (1824–1856) collection, which is freely available on the National Archives of Ireland's Genealogy website. You'll need to imput some of the information in the books into the Translator search form. Then scroll down the page to read the report.