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| genealogical sources |
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Genealogical sources for the South Armagh genealogist are wide and varied. Although many records were destroyed in the 1922 fire in the Four Courts in Dublin, Armagh still retains a wealth of research sources.
Civil birth, death and marriage records, Church records, Census returns, Land records, Estate records, Military (Militia,Muster, Yeomanry) records, School records, etc give alot of options to the family historian.
Many of these records are held locally in Armagh Ancestry, Irish Studies Library, Armagh County Museum. They are also held in the Public records Office of Northern Ireland and the National Archives in Dublin.
The Archives of SAGP, which include many of the above sources are now housed in Ti Chuliann: www.tichulainn.com |
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This is the first complete Census return available for all Ireland. An invaluable source to commence your research as it lists many individuals born prior to civil registration in 1864. It is held locally in Armagh Ancestry and in the Irish Studies Library. |
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This complete Census return available for all Ireland. An invaluable source to commence your research as it lists many individuals born prior to civil registration in 1864. It is only available for consultaion in the Republic of Ireland. |
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The Griffith's valuation Survey lists householders and occupiers of land and buildings, together with details of lessors, acreages and rateable valuations. The valuation for County armagh was compiled in 1864. |
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The Tithe Applotment Books list all land holders who paid tithe (tax) to the established Church (Church of Ireland). This tithe was payable by all denominations. Only the person who paid the tithe is listed,along with the amount paid and the extent of their titheable property. |
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The Registry of Deeds contains leases, mortgages, marriage settlements, and wills. |
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The Irish Land Commission records consist mainly of deeds, abstracts of title and similar material, and were amassed as a result of the operation of the Irish Land Purchase Acts 1881-1923. |
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The Marriage Licence Bonds contain only the year of the bond and the name of the bride and groom. A very useful source. |
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Vestry records reflect the role of the parish in local government, dealing with repair of roads, poor relief and other matters, and in some cases contain lists of householders liable to pay cess, a parochial tax. |
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The availability of these vary by denomination. A hugely important source prior to civil registration. See Parish Records section for county Armagh Parish records. |
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Wills contain the name, address and occupation of the testator and many beneficiaries. Some also contain names of relatives such as cousins, nephews, nieces. |
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The archive of the Ulster Unionist Council, held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), contains just under half a million original signatures and addresses of the men who, on 28 September 1912, signed the Ulster Covenant, and of the women who signed the parallel Declaration. In total, the Covenant was signed by 237,368 men, and the Declaration by 234,046 women.
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In the early years of the nineteenth century, there were numerous schools in Ireland but many were in poor condition and were badly conducted. The Province of Ulster, for example, had 3,449 schools in 1821 -- Counties Antrim and Down had over 1,000 schools between them -- but they were fragmented in structure with numerous types of schools, including 'charter' schools, schools of the London Hibernian Society -- to which Roman Catholics did not want to send their children because they were all of a proselytising character -- and 'pay' or 'hedge' schools.
It was against this background of haphazard educational provision that the Irish system of National Education was founded in 1831 under the direction of the Chief Secretary, E.G. Stanley. Some 2,500 national schools were established in Ulster in the period 1832-1870, built with the aid of the Commissioners of National Education and local trustees. The records that have survived for schools in Counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone are held in PRONI. |
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Voters, Poll and Freeholders Records are lists of people entitled to vote, or of people actually voting at elections. They are normally arranged on a county basis.
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Poor Law records are the archives of the Boards of Guardians which administered the Poor Law in Ireland, 1838-1948. PRONI hold extensive records for some 28 Poor Law Unions (BG) that operated in the area now covered by Northern Ireland. Each Poor Law Union was named after a chief town in the area, which usually serviced the area in a ten-mile radius, and often extended across county boundaries. As well and Workhouses, Infirmaries and Fever Hospitals where maintained by the Board. The system was financed by a rate collected under the Poor Law Valuation.
The original aim of the poor law system was to provide indoor relief to the destitute poor in workhouses. Due to the pressures on accommodation created as a result of the Great Famine, outdoor relief was introduced. This was granted to the able-bodied poor in the form of money or goods and, as a result, this meant that by the turn of the century the workhouses in Ireland had become a refuge for the old, the sick, and destitute children under the age of fifteen.
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The Landed Estate records form the bulk of privately deposited material in PRONI. The Northern Ireland government was aware in 1923 that the Province's archival heritage from official sources was necessarily limited, and so gave PRONI authority to accept records from private depositors. In 1924 the first Deputy Keeper of the Records of Northern Ireland wrote to many of the Province's prominent families asking them to deposit their archives in PRONI. The 3rd Duke of Abercorn (Northern Ireland's first Governor) was the first to respond to this appeal, and the Abercorn Papers (recently purchased from the present Duke), constituting some 50,000 documents, are among the most important of PRONI's landed estates collections. |
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Local constables were empowered to draw up a list of all ablebodied men in their area. |
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500,000 Armagh births, deaths and marriages now searchable online: http://armagh.brsgenealogy.com/ |
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