DISCOVER YOUR ROOTS TO GROW YOUR FAMILY TREE
WITH SO MANY RECORDS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE, THERE’S NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO START YOUR FAMILY TREE, WRITES EMMA STAFFORD
MANY people like the idea of looking into their family tree but often feel they don’t have the time. As we face into further weeks of self isolation and social distancing, the time is ripe for dipping a toe in the genealogy pool.
With a number of important sources of information going online in recent years, it’s never been easier to start tracking down your ancestors.
Before delving into the records, spend time compiling the information that’s already available.
Call older relatives and see what details they can remember; in this time of isolation and distancing, it’s a fantastic reason to touch base with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins or anyone else you may not have spoken to in a while. Write down any stories or family legends they can share; while these will no doubt have been embellished or confused over the years, there’s normally a grain of truth at the heart of them.
If you know of any family graves, pay a visit to the graveyards and take down the information on the headstones (if they’re outside your 2km limit, put it on the ‘to do’ list for when the current restrictions are eased). Also have a look at the graves nearby. Multiple graves with the same surname side-by-side can indicate a family connection, while a headstone with different surnames within your plot may reveal some in-laws of long ago.
If there’s someone in your family who kept hold of memory cards, you’ve hit the jackpot. Not only do these provide a date of death, they can also include where a person lived, where they are buried and/or a photo. Numerous cards with the same surname and from the same area could hint at a family connection, while very old cards must have been important to have been passed down from generation to generation.
If some old family photos have notes on the back, these can help put faces to names but may also give you a name or location of interest.
Armed with this information, it’s time to start searching. Before you do, though, an important tip: write down everything. Detailed notes will stand you in good stead further down the line and save you doing the same thing twice. Make a list of searches you’ve carried out; jot down baronies, electoral areas and townslands/streets; and take note of all results in a name search – you may not think they’re related to you but, once you’ve gone back a few generations, you might discover a link. At worst, you’ll get a picture of other families in the area sharing your surname.
Many people begin their search with the census returns from 1901 and 1911, which are available online through the National Archives (www.census.nationalarchives.ie). The search facility allows you to enter the details of a known ancestor, while the browse function will let you look at the returns by townland and see all the families living there.
Finding your ancestor living with family members opens up a range of other investigative opportunities. If they are a child living with parents, you’ll learn their parents’ names and ages. A handy addition to the 1911 census was the inclusion of the number of years a couple are married, the number of children born and the number of children still living, although these are normally only filled in if both parents are still living. The age of your ancestor and their siblings means you can start looking for their birth cert, which will provide an accurate date of birth as well as the mother’s maiden name.
Other information noted on the census includes occupation, county/country of birth and, on the B forms, details about the dwelling.
Civil registration of all births, deaths and marriages began in Ireland in 1864, and the indexes to these records can be searched online at www. irishgenealogy.ie. The birth records cover the years 1864 to 1919, death records from 1878 to 1969 (they’re working on adding the records back to 1864) and marriage records from 1845 to 1944, although Catholic records only begin in 1864.
To carry out a search in a specific area, you’ll need to know the Civil Registration District/Office, but a list of these is available on the website.
If you have a list of children on a census, try looking for births of those with the most unusual names first. You could find 50 John Murphys but there may be considerably fewer Laurence or Nicholas Murphys.
At this point, it’s also worth noting that ages were a bit more ‘fluid’ in times gone by. Don’t be surprised if your 80-year-old ancestor who died in 1950 was actually born in 1867, or if that 23-year-old girl who got married in 1895 was born in 1870. It’s also pretty common to see people age 12 or 15 years in between the 1901 and 1911 Census (though that might have something to do with the introduction of the old-age pension in 1908). In any case, search two to five years either side of an expected date for a greater chance of success.
Aside from the obvious, these records can give details of addresses and professions, but perhaps the most valuable is the inclusion of the father’s name and profession (and sometimes whether he’s alive or dead) on the marriage records. It’s also worth noting who registered a death – particularly with an elderly person, the death may have been registered by a child or grandchild you didn’t know about or a married daughter, giving you their new surname.
To go back before the start of civil registrations, you need to search the parish records.
The Catholic parish records are available to view on the National Library of Ireland website (https://registers.nli.ie). Unfortunately, they are not searchable, so it’s necessary to go through each page of the scanned books. Most registers extend back to the early 1800s, with a small number going back further. The earlier records are often written in Latin; while forenames are given their latin form (a search online can provide a list of common names in Latin), surnames are the same.
Typically, baptism records will provide the date of the ceremony, the parents names (including the mother’s maiden name), their place of residence and godparents. Marriage records usually include the bride and groom’s names and places of residence, the witnesses’ names and, often, the names of the couple’s fathers. It’s worth noting that marriages usually took place in the bride’s local church, rather than the groom’s.
Burial records are patchy – some areas have full records, some areas have none and others have some but not for the full period. Where they do exist, they normally give the name and address of the deceased and the date of burial.
Unfortunately, Church of Ireland parish records are not so readily accessible. Many parish registers were sent to the Public Record Office (PRO) in Dublin after the Church of Ireland ceased to be the established church in 1871 and, unfortunately, these were lost when fire destroyed the PRO during the Irish Civil War.
Fortunately, some members of the clergy had made copies of their registers, while 637 parishes had not sent theirs to Dublin at all. These records are now looked after by the Representative Church Body Library (RCBL), while post-1900 records are still in local hands. The RCBL has a regularly updated list on its website (www.ireland.anglican. org/about/rcb-library/list-of-parish-registers) giving details of what registers survive and where they can be accessed. There is coverage of some on www.rootsireland.ie, a subscription service provided by the Irish Family History Foundation.
Typically, a baptism entry would state the child’s name, the father’s full name and the mother’s forename (maiden surnames are not given in most cases). After 1820, the father’s occupation was often included as well as the child’s date of birth, which is helpful as, sometimes, families waited a number of months to baptise children.
Marriage records tended to be less detailed, with marriage entries often noting just the couple’s names and the officiating clergyman. While the Church of Ireland was far more thorough in recording burials, the information usually includes the name, age and townland of the deceased.
Outside of the returns for 1901 and 1911, there are some census returns for 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851 available through the National Archives, but these are extremely limited and don’t cover the entire country.
To try to locate family earlier than 1901, the Tithe Applotment Books and Griffith’s Valuation are good census replacements. Unfortunately, they only give the name of the head of the household but do list how much land a person held.
The Tithe Applotment Books are a valuable pre-famine record and were compiled between 1823 and 1837 to establish how much those holding agricultural land should pay in tithes to the Church of Ireland. Almost all civil (Church of Ireland) parishes are covered but, as it only applied to agricultural land, urban areas are not inincluded. These records can be searched on the NationalN Archives website.
The Primary Valuation of Ireland, usually referred freferred to as Griffith’s Valuation, was an extensive pproperty tax survey carried out in the mid-1800s uunder the supervision of the Commissioner of Valuation, Richard Griffith. The thorough valuation, which covers all counties in Ireland, was published between 1847 and 1864. It gives valuation of all taxable agricultural land and buildings, and,a therefore, covers both rural and urban areas.
The records are available to search on askaboutIreland.aie and, as well as providing the name of the person leasing the land/building, gives the name of the person the plot is leased from, a description of the property, the acreage and the valuation. The site also includes maps (from a slightly later period) which show where the property is.
After the initial survey was carried out, the details of Griffith’s Valuation were updated over the years in revision books or ‘Cancelled Land Books’. Unfortunately, these are not yet online but are available to view at the Valuation Office in Dublin. They allow you to trace who held a plot of land from about the 1860s up until the 1990s, with handwritten amendments made in different colours for different years. Not only can this throw up names of ancestors (land often passed from husband to wife or eldest son), but gives you an idea of when someone died or emigrated.
Once you fall down the rabbit hole of researching your family tree, prepare to spend hours upon hours searching through records. Expect frustration and elation in equal measure. This is merely a guide to kick-start your research, so it barely touches the sides of what is out there to help you track down your ancestors.
Two great sources of information, tips and observations on new or updated online records are the blogs of John Grenham (www.johngrenham. and Claire Santry (www. irishgenealogynews.com).
Once you’ve reached a certain stage with the free records, some may consider a subscription to the likes of www.findmypast.ie or www.ancestry. co.uk. These contain a wealth of information, including newspapers, petty court sessions, directories, dog licences, Poor Law Union documents and records of births, deaths and marriages.
Those with an unusual family history or a mystery they can’t solve, may wish to seek help from a professional. Accredited Genealogists Ireland, the regulating body of professional genealogists, has a list of members who are available for commissions on its website, https:// accreditedgenealogists.ie. The Irish Family History Foundation is the co-ordinating body for a network of government-approved genealogical research centres throughout the island of Ireland. A list of these centres can be found at www.rootsireland.ie/contact-irish-family-history-foundation-centres/