A Guide to Tracing Your Galway Ancestors

A Guide to Tracing Your Galway Ancestors

 

 

Peadar O’Dowd

 

 

 

 

First Published in 2010

Reprinted 2012.

Flyleaf Press

4 Spencer Villas

Glenageary

Co. Dublin, Ireland

www.flyleaf.ie

© 2010 Flyleaf Press

British Library cataloguing in Publications Data available

ISBN 978-0-9563624-2-1

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

The information in this book is subject to change without notice.

 

Cover Illustration:

Eoin Ryan

www.eoinryanart.com

Layout:

Brian Smith

Dedication

The memory of Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (alias Duald MacFirbis) c. 1600-71, who, as a genealogist in particular, was the last traditionally-trained member of that hereditary learned class, which played such an important part in recording our past. Galway, during the period leading up to the Cromwellian siege of 1651-2, was according to Nollaig Ó Muraíle, the scene of an astounding feat of scholarship – the compilation by Dubhaltach of his monumental Leabhar Genealach or ‘Book of Genealogies’, which deserves to be placed on a par with such works as Annála Ríoghachta Éireann (the ‘Annals of the Four Masters’).

Acknowledgements

I wish to express my gratitude to the personal assistance received from the staff of the following:

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Family Search Division, Salt Lake City.

East Galway Family History Society Company, Ltd.

Flyleaf Press.

Galway County Library Headquarters.

Galway Family History Society (West) Ltd.

GMIT Library.

Heritage Section, Galway County Council.

Kennys Bookshop and Art Galleries Ltd.

National Library of Ireland.

Special Collections and Archives Services, Leabharlann James Hardiman, NUI Galway.

Contents

Abbreviations

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Getting Started

Chapter 3 Administrative Divisions

Chapter 4 Civil Registration

Chapter 5 Census and Census Substitutes

Chapter 6 Church Records

Chapter 7 Gravestone Inscriptions

Chapter 8 Land and Related Records

Chapter 9 Wills, Administrations and Marriage Licences

Chapter 10 Commercial and Social Directories

Chapter 11 Newspapers

Chapter 12 Merchant Tribes and other Galway Families

Chapter 13 Further Reading and Useful Sources

Chapter 14 Useful Addresses

Index

Abbreviations Used

 

b.	birth/born
bapt.	Baptism
BL	British Library
c.	circa
Co.	County
CoI	Church of Ireland
CDB	Congested Districts Boards
d.	death/died
DED	District Electoral Division
ed.	editor/edited (by)
EGFHS	East Galway Family History Society
FHS	Family History Society
GCCA	Galway County Council Archives
GCL	Galway County Libraries
GFHSW	Galway Family History Society West Ltd.
GM	Gort Inse Guaire. See Chapter 12
GMIT	Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology
GO	Genealogical Office
GRO	General Register Office
IGP	Irish Genealogical Project
IMC	Irish Manuscripts Commission
Ir. Anc.	Irish Ancestor
Ir. Gen.	Irish Genealogist
J. or Jnl.	Journal
JAPMD	Journal of Association for Preservation of Memorials of the Dead
JH	James Hardiman. History of… Galway. See Chapter 12
JHLSC	James Hardiman Library Special Collections (NUIG)
JGAHS	Journal of the Galway Archaeological & Historical Society
JOTS	Journal of the Old Tuam Society
Lib.	Library
LGMIT	Library of the Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology m./marr. marriage/married
MG	Galway History and Society. See Chapter 12
Ms/Mss	Manuscript/s
N	Tribes and other Galway Families. See Chapter 12
NAI	National Archives of Ireland (formerly PRO)
n.d.	not dated
NLI	National Library of Ireland
NUIG	National University of Ireland, Galway
OF	R. O’Flaherty… Description of Connaught. See Chapter 12
p./pp.	page/pages
PLU	Poor Law Union
PRO	Public Record Office (now National Archives of Ireland)
PRONI	Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
RC	Roman Catholic
RCB(L)	Representative Church Body (Library)
RIA	Royal Irish Academy
RL	O’Regan and Lacey. Abbeyknockmoy. See Chapter 12
SS	Seán Spellissy. History of Galway City. See Chapter 12
SLC	Family History Library, Salt Lake City (and branches)
TM	Tadhg MacLochlain. Historical Survey. See Chapter 12

Chapter 1 Introduction

County Galway is the second largest county in Ireland covering an area of 2,293 sq. miles (5,939 sq. km) with its chief centre of population, Galway City, divided by the River Corrib flowing from Lough Corrib, which in turn separates the high lands of Connemara to the west from farm lands to the east. The city’s population of 72,414 (according to the 2006 census), combined with 159,052 in the county are the culmination of a long human presence imbedded in this western landscape dating back to Mesolithic or Middle Stone Ages times over 8,000 years ago.

Unlike other Irish urban areas, Galway City was not founded by a Viking influx, but owes its origins to 13^th century Norman adventurers, led by Richard de Burgo, who established this, the most westerly of his Anglo-Norman settlements, on the eastern bank of the Corrib estuary in the 1230s.

To the native Corribside septs banished westwards beyond the river, these newcomers were ‘Gall’ or strangers, and in time, this new growth centre gained the Gaelic title, Gaillimh, or ‘The Place of the Strangers’, with the former mutating into the familiar name of ‘Galway’ today. The rising importance of this new settlement, which accumulated its prosperity on overseas trade, saw its name applied also to the county, when new territorial boundaries were drawn up in the wider province of Connacht in 1576.

Not surprisingly, the de Burgos, whose name was later anglicised to Burkes (or Bourkes in nearby County Mayo), introduced many newcomers into their confiscated western lands such as the powerful Berminghams of Athenry. The evolving town of Galway eventually came to be ruled by fourteen merchant families later known as ‘The Tribes of Galway’. These were the families Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, Darcy, Deane, Font, French, Joyce, Kirwan, Lynch, Martin, Morris and Skerrett. Some of these powerful families later spread their entrepreneurial expertise into managing country estates throughout the county. Many family members eventually emigrated and opened new commercial enterprises in both the old (Europe) and new (America) worlds.

Meanwhile, various English plantation policies in the 16^th and 17^th centuries introduced new family names to County Galway. These included the Geoghegans who were transplanted from the midlands to Connemara, underlining yet again the infamous ‘To Hell or to Connacht’ saying engrained in Irish folklore. These unfortunate newcomers had to share ever-decreasing land banks with leading native Galway septs such as the O’Flahertys and O’Hallorans in the west. To the east, long-established families with such proud names as O’Kelly, O’Shaughnessy, Hynes, Lally, O’Fahy, Madden, and O’Daly, later found their properties being assigned to incoming Eyres, St. Georges, Hacketts, Blakeneys, Trenches and Persses, under Cromwellian and Williamite military pressures.

Despite numerous cases of land confiscations experienced during these troubled times, other native families managed to survive on the Galway landscape. These include the Donnellans, Egans, Wards, Divillys and Duggans to mention just a few, while to the west, Conneelys, Conroys and Fordes also recall a storied past.

It is a purpose of this book to help you trace your family roots, whatever your family’s place in the corridors of Galway history. Although your direct ancestors may only be relatively newcomers to this western scene, there are many local as well as national and international research fonts to be tapped in the search for family identity.

These sources are also available to the descendants of those Galwegians who emigrated to foreign lands. While thousands left for America through the port of Cobh in County Cork, many more shed their tears on the cold limestone quays of Galway Docks. Emigration from Galway started during the 18^th century, greatly increased during fateful times such as the Great Famine, and continued on the vessels of the Allan Shipping Line as the 20^th century dawned. In later times, ocean-going liners anchoring on Galway Bay, sometimes four per week during the 1930s, augmented later by air flights from Shannon Airport, continued this human drain from Galway and its hinterlands.

Hopefully, this publication will be of help to this wide Galway diaspora whose family roots still tingle with memories of potato beds on a lonely western landscape or vaguely hear the call of Claddagh fishermen as their ancient sailing craft meet Corrib quays. These family roots demand recall, and in filling out the family tree, your immediate clan gathers yet again, albeit in a small way on the dotted lines, as the obstacles of death and distance fade before your efforts. This book will attempt to meet that demand.

Chapter 2 Getting Started

There are many reasons why you may wish to trace your Galway ancestors, but once you start you will be participating in a process in which many other families are busily engaged. The initial question, of course, is how exactly do you start on your own personal safari of linking up all these distant cousins and long-deceased great-aunts.

The most popular way is to create a family tree. Rather than drawing up the obligatory chart with pen and ruler, why not download a blank pedigree chart from one of the many genealogy software programmes now available on the internet. Once you have the blank chart before you, it is time to start filling in the jigsaw, which may well take much research, communications with those distant cousins, (who may be filling out a chart of their own!) and, above all, patience.

The best place to start, of course, is in your own household, especially with any elders in the family, who can be treasured sources of information. Here, one might use the tape recorder or video camera, because as well as acquiring useful information, you will preserve a time picture of the present, which, will provide a welcome past scenario for future generations of your family.

In this regard, you should also collect family correspondence, birth, marriage and death certificates, remembrance cards, diaries, as well as newspaper clippings and other primary data. Using this initial data, write up or input your gathered information on a computer database, not forgetting to record all sources as well as providing back-up copies in case of loss of data. There are many programmes available which will help you to organise your information. As well, make sure that such gathered primary data is stored in a safe place.

Initially, of course, it is easy to commence filling the family tree, usually with you at the apex and parents in twin boxes underneath, their own parents underneath in a like manner and so on as the tree expands. Depending on the information available, two factors soon come into play.

If you are lucky enough to have ample information at hand, you can quickly run out of space on your family tree page, so it is wise to open ancillary pages for appropriate sections of your family. More than likely, however, once the great-grandparent stages have been reached, the available data will quickly dry up and it is time to don the mantle of research. For those who can afford it, professional advice/research facilities are available. If you want to hire a professional, do choose from one of the accredited experts in the Republic of Ireland’s only regulated body of genealogists, the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland. (APGI) Tel. + 353 (01) 6030200 or see www.apgi.ie

Alternatively, you can avail of professional advice through the Irish Genealogical Project, which has set up a nationwide network of local genealogical centres. There are two centres in County Galway covering different parts of the county. Galway Family History Society West Ltd. covers the western part of the county, while the eastern section is serviced by the East Galway Family History Society. The contact details for both of these centres are in Chapter 14.

However, personally extracting the information required from the myriad of sources now available may be your preferred route. Filling each blank space in the family tree chart from your own efforts brings satisfaction of a rather special kind. This can be experienced, for instance, by returning a long forgotten relation from the sadness of oblivion to occupy his/her own special place in the Galway family history genre. Helping you fill that space then is the purpose of this book, and in this regard there are many supports and sources available to you in your task.

If you are visiting Galway, the local libraries are places of initial enquiry and help – not alone in their contents, but also staff. Galway County Council Archives and Galway County Libraries are a treasure trove of information containing tomes of national genealogical importance. They also have a fine collection of local information volumes published across this vast county. Their contact details are in Chapter 14. They also provide genealogical research information in a free leaflet entitled, Family History & Genealogy - A Brief Research Guide. Also in Galway, the special collections and archives service of the James Hardiman Library in the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI, G) will be of benefit (also see Chapter14).

In Dublin, The National Library of Ireland and the National Archives of Ireland, (which are in the process of being merged) both house additional information of vital importance to the family historian. In general, the National Archives contain information compiled by public bodies (Government agencies, local authorities etc), while the National Library generally contains information generated by commercial sources (newspapers, books) or private sources (estate papers, letters, etc.). Both also offer a free genealogical advisory service. These and other local and national repositories and support organisations are listed in Chapter 14. If you are conducting your research from outside Ireland, most of the resources required for your research are available in one or other form from libraries or from publishers. Ever more to the fore nowadays, one can also rely on the internet to cast that research cloak further afield, and to also develop invaluable contacts with others with knowledge and interest in the same families.

This book is designed, through its various chapters, to aid you in your research by detailing the range of information sources available. In Chapter 3, we start by describing the administrative divisions, which are vital to understanding how records are organised. Subsequent chapters describe the different forms of records available. These sources increase all the time and publications such as the Irish Genealogist journal and the Irish Roots magazine, as well as local history publications in Galway, continually publish new information. Further information on these sources can be found in Chapter14. This book also details sources published in electronic form and lists archive guides, directories and other useful addresses. All it needs now is for you to take the first step.