Tracing Your Roscommon Ancestors

A

GUIDE TO TRACING YOUR ROSCOMMON ANCESTORS

John Hamrock

First published in 2007

Flyleaf Press

4 Spencer Villas

Glenageary

Co. Dublin, Ireland

www.flyleaf.ie

British Library cataloguing in Publications Data available

978-0-9539974-7-3

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

Layout:

Brian Smith

Dedication

To

My wife, Deirdre Breen

and my children

Aedán, Fergal and Marie-Chantal

also to my parents

James Stephen Hamrock and Mary Frances Walsh

and to all my family in America and Ireland

“And then there is the work! If the genealogical bug once bites you, you are a doomed man, and never again will you be happy except when attempting to trace the elusive ancestor. It has all the fascination of a game for one who loves it. It is like working out a chess problem or a cross-word puzzle, but much more exhilarating, for the pawns in this game were once human beings. You have ancestral charts in blank, which theoretically can be filled in completely with the names of your ancestors; and there is no elation akin to that which you experience when a long-sought forbear is discovered and an empty space on the chart becomes a name and a reality.”¹

Acknowledgements

I wish to express my gratitude for the valuable assistance provided to me by the staff of the following Irish and American repositories:

General Registrar’s Office

National Archives and Records Administration, Regional Archives,

Northeast Region, USA – Waltham, Massachusetts

New England Historic Genealogical Society Library

Representative Church Body Library

Roscommon County Library

Royal Irish Academy Library

The Gilbert Library, Dublin City Library

The National Library of Ireland

The National Archives of Ireland

The Registry of Deeds

University College Dublin Library

Valuation Office, Dublin

This book started out as an assignment for the National University of Ireland Certificate in Genealogy/Family History Course at the Adult Education Centre, UCD Dublin. I wish particularly to thank the course tutor, Sean Murphy, MA, for his guidance and encouragement throughout the course. I would also like to thank William Gacquin for providing valuable information on South Roscommon and Mike Lennon who revealed some family connections and who sparked my interest in Irish genealogy. I would also like to thank Eimear Lenahan for her documentation on the Lenahan family

Most importantly, I am thankful to my wife, Deirdre, and my children Aedán, Fergal, and Marie-Chantal for their patience and loving support. I also thank my parents, James Stephen Hamrock and Mary Frances Walsh Hamrock, for their love and support.

Abbreviations

BIVRI	British Isles Vital Records Index (LDS CD-ROM set)
BL	British Library
BMD	Births, marriages and deaths
c.	circa (around)
Co.	County
C of I	Church of Ireland
DED	District Electoral Division
Ed.	Edited
EGFHS	East Galway Family History Society Ltd.
FAS	Foras Áiseanna Saothair, Ireland’s National Training and Employment Authority
GO	Genealogical Office
GRO	General Register Office
IA	The Irish Ancestor magazine
IFHF	Irish Family History Foundation
IGI	International Genealogical Index
IGRS	Irish Genealogical Research Society
IMC	Irish Manuscripts Commission
Inc.	including
JRSAI	Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquities of Ireland
LC	Local Custody
LDS	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Family History Library
Ms(s)	manuscript(s)
NA	National Archives
NAI	National Archives of Ireland
n.d.	no date
NEHGS	New England Historic Genealogical Society
NLI	National Library of Ireland
NUI	National University of Ireland
PLU	Poor Law Union
Pos.	Positive
PRO	Public Record Office
PRONI	Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
pub.	published/publisher
RC	Roman Catholic
RCBL	Representative Church Body Library
RCL	Roscommon County Library
re	relating to
RHGC	Roscommon Heritage and Genealogy Company
RHAS	Roscommon Historical and Archaeological Society
RIA	Royal Irish Academy
RSAI	Royal Society of Antiquarians in Ireland
SHGC	Sligo Heritage and Genealogical Centre
SLC	Family History Library, Salt Lake City (& branches)
TCD	Trinity College Dublin
UCD	University College Dublin

Chapter 1 Introduction

Roscommon is a landlocked county in the province of Connaught and is 60 miles from north to south and 40 miles from west to east. The landscape is mainly flat except for the Braulieve mountains at the North-eastern corner, and the Curlew mountains to the northwest. Lough Key and Lough Gara also form part of the northern boundaries with Leitrim and Sligo. It is bounded to the east by the Shannon river and lakes and by counties Longford, Westmeath, Offaly, and to the west by the river Suck and counties Galway and Mayo. It is primarily an agricultural county, with generally fertile soil.

In the decade of the Great Famine, from its peak population in 1841 of 253,591 inhabitants, the population dropped by over 30% to 174,492 due to death and emigration. The following table (from British Parliamentary Papers: The Census of Ireland for the Year 1851, Alexander Thom, Dublin) illustrates the decline in each Barony. This decline continued over the following century and the current population (2002) is almost 54,000 and slowly increasing once again

Roscommon people have historically been predominantly Roman Catholic. The 1861 Census² provided the first reliable figures of Church membership and showed that the Irish population was 77% Catholic. In comparison, the diocese of Elphin, which makes up a large chunk of Roscommon, was 96% Catholic.³ The religious denominations are further detailed on page 35.

The purpose of this guide is to direct beginner and experienced researchers to information on Roscommon ancestors within the confusing range of sources that exist. Further information on some sources is in the end-notes (page 146) which are numbered within each chapter. A particular goal is to inform readers about manuscript sources, most of which cannot be accessed over the internet. To avail of these resources one must visit archives or retain a professional genealogist.

Summary by Baronies

Ireland has fewer genealogical sources than some other countries, but records are usually available back to the early nineteenth century, and if one is lucky, even earlier. The earlier records are generally those of the well-to-do or the educated, or others whose political, military or ecclesiastical activities inspired specific reference.

This is an exciting time for genealogy in Ireland with public interest growing at a steady pace. This growth in interest is evidenced by magazines such as Irish Roots (www.iol.ie/~irishrts/); by the provision of better research facilities; and by the availability of training. University College Dublin (www.ucd.ie) now offers Certificate and Diploma courses in Genealogy/Family History of which the writer is a graduate. There has also been steady growth in Irish genealogical societies.

It is advised that researchers take the time to visit Roscommon and meet relatives, if possible, to learn as much as possible directly from family members and local people. In addition to conducting research in Dublin repositories, it is also rewarding to visit the Roscommon County Library as the library staff are very helpful and the repository for genealogical and local history sources is a comfortable setting in which to do research.

This guide will be also helpful in researching ancestors in the seven counties which border Roscommon. The writer’s paternal grandparents lived in neighbouring Mayo and Sligo. His grandmother, Ellen Cryan, was from the townland of Seefin, barony of Coolavin in County Sligo. When she emigrated, the family noted that they were from Roscommon as the closest town to their farm was Boyle in County Roscommon. Likewise, the writer’s grandfather, James Hamrock, was from a small farm in the townland of Leow, near Ballyhaunis in Co. Mayo. They probably sold their produce and livestock in Ballinlough in Co. Roscommon as it was just as easy for the family to walk to market there as to walk to Ballyhaunis in Mayo.

The writer, John Hamrock, conducts research on Roscommon families and on families across the entire island of Ireland. He can be contacted at 19 Balally Avenue, Dundrum, Dublin 16, Ireland or by email at john. hamrock@yahoo.ie or visit his website www.ancestor.ie

It is not possible to cover every aspect of Roscommon genealogical research in this small guide. Almost certainly some items have been overlooked, and equally, new sources of genealogical relevance continue to be discovered. Nevetherless, it is hoped that the ideas or information in this book will enable a successful search for an elusive Roscommon ancestor.

A typical pedigree chart used by family historians

Chapter 2 Conducting Family Research

A basic first step in family research is to obtain information from living relatives. Seek out older relatives and listen to their recollections of their relatives. Be warned however, not to become over-reliant on such recollections. Oral history can be misleading. It is best to try to anchor these stories with documented fact. Trace your ancestry from what is known to the unknown by using documented facts as your guide. The records which are usually used to do this are birth, death and marriage records. A fuller picture of an ancestor’s life is established from building on factual information derived from using more than just one source.

To keep track of your information as it grows, it is important to prepare a family tree. This will both record the information and also when and where each piece of information was sourced. It is inevitable that you will need recheck some records at a later date. Several styles of sheets are available to organise your data, including circular charts, horizontal and vertical pedigree sheets. A sample of the horizontal pedigree sheet, which is a favourite, can be seen opposite and on http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanmurphy/dir/index.htm. Whichever system is used, accurately and copiously recording source information (a) helps the researcher to pick up where one has left off without having to redo research work; and (b) allows other family members to pick up and continue the research work.

An early step in the research process is to consult sources on the origins of the family name. These may give an indication of family history and locations, but rarely anything of specific relevance to your own family history. Some standard references by MacLysaght and Woulfe are described in Chapter 14.

Finally it is useful to understand the social history of the time and the place where one’s ancestors lived. This will allow the researcher to better understand the environment and the social, economic and occupational challenges which their ancestors encountered during their lifetimes and which may have caused the creation of records which family researchers can utilise.

A description of the civil parish of Moore from the ‘Topographical Dictionary of Ireland by Samuel Lewis (1837)

Chapter 3 Administrative Divisions

An ancestor’s address is an essential part of their identity. It is therefore important to understand the composition of addresses as they are cited. All Irish counties were divided into different areas or divisions for civil or Church (Ecclesiastical) administration purposes. The major Civil and Ecclesiastical divisions in Roscommon are discussed below:

Civil Divisions: Civil divisions were established for administration of land ownership and local government. They range from the largest, the province, to the smallest, which is the townland.

Province: Roscommon is in the province of Connaught or Connacht. Provinces are based on five ancient Irish kingdoms, the other four being Leinster, Meath, Munster and Ulster. Meath was later merged with Leinster to create the current four provinces.

County: A county is a significant administrative unit and many records are organised at county level. The borders of Roscommon were formed in 1565 (see p.18). Note that some townlands and parishes straddle the county border. Some of these border areas have also been ‘moved’ e.g. the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898 transferred several townlands from Mayo and Galway to Roscommon.⁴

Barony: Baronies and half baronies are sub-units of counties. The barony is not used much after the 18th century. They are Boyle, Frenchpark, Castlereagh, Roscommon, Ballintober North & South, Ballymoe, Athlone, and Moycarn (see map P.18)

Civil Parish: Civil parishes are a very important division for most records. They should not be confused with “ecclesiastical parishes” which are territories administered by Irish churches.

Townland: The townland is the smallest unit of land division and is very important in finding the specific location of a family. In general they contain a few hundred acres of land, but can vary from 10 acres to several thousand.

Poor Law Union (PLU): Poor Law Unions were areas within which taxes were collected to alleviate the plight of the poor, and to maintain workhouses. Usually centered on a market town, they include an area of fifteen mile radius. Later on, the PLU became the area in which civil births, marriages and deaths were registered.

Electoral Divisions: Poor Law Unions were later sub-divided into District Electoral Divisions (DEDs) for the purposes of voter registration and other administration.

Ecclesiastical Divisions: The church maintained a separate system of administration, which is also based on ancient land areas. There are overlaps, but they are effectively separate. They are important not only for records such as baptisms and marriages, but also because the Church of Ireland was responsible for administration of wills and other records for a long period of Irish history.

Diocese: The diocese is the area under the authority of a bishop. Their boundaries have remained relatively unchanged since the twelfth century and (with minor variations) are used by both the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church. Roscommon is within the dioceses of Achrony, Ardagh, Clonfert, Elphin, and Tuam

Church of Ireland Parish. These are identical to civil parishes – see map p.18

Roman Catholic Parish. These are sometimes equivalent to a civil parish, but usually not. Theie size has evolved over history to cater for changing population sizes and other factors.

Probate Districts: Following the removal of civil duties from the Church of Ireland in 1858, a civil infrastructure was established for Probate administration. The divisions used for proving wills and for granting administrations include a Principal Registry and District Registries. Roscommon was served by the District Registry of Tuam.

Some Guides on Administrative Divisions:

Alphabetical Index to Townlands & Towns, Parishes & Baronies of Ireland (1851)

Commonly known as the 1851 Townland Index, this is a comprehensive index. It was originally published by Thoms (Dublin) and republished by Genealogical Publishing Co. (Baltimore). It is a standard reference in libraries with Irish interest holdings.

General Topographical Index to Townlands and Towns of Ireland (1901): This index is similar to the 1851 Index, but also lists the relevant District Electoral Divisions which are important when accessing certain land records. (see Chapter 7)

Topographical Dictionary of Ireland by Samuel Lewis (Dublin 1837). This useful guide contains a brief history and summary of economic and social conditions in all parishes and towns, and a map. It also lists major local landowners of the day. It has been republished and digitized in many different forms and is widely available. (see p.14)

Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland (1844/5). This is similar to Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of Ireland in content. It is available in many libraries.

Ordnance Survey Field Name Books: These notebooks were compiled by the surveyors who drew the first official maps during the nineteenth century (see www.ordnancesurvey.ie). Information includes townland names, location and landowners’ names. The original manuscripts are on microfilm at the NLI and hardcopy typescripts are also available.

Townlands in Poor Law Unions. Higginson, (Salem, Mass.) 1997 by George Handran is a useful reference as it will identify adjacent townlands within a civil parish or Poor Law Union.

Civil Parishes of County Roscommon

Roscommon Civil Parishes as Numbered on Map

1. Kilronan

2. Boyle

3. Kilbryan

4. Ardcarn

5. Tumna

6. Eastersnow or Estersnow

7. Killukin (see also 27)

8. Killumod

9. Kilnamanagh

9a. Kilcolman

9b. Castlemore

10. Tibohine

11. Kilcolagh

12. Kilmacumsy

13. Creeve

14. Kilcorkey

15. Kilkeevan

16. Baslick

17. Kiltullagh

18. Ballintober

19. Aughrim

20. Shankill

21. Clooncraff

22. Elphin

23. Kiltrustan

24. Ogulla

25. Kilcooly

26. Bumlin

27. Killukin (See also 7)

28. Cloonfinlough

29. Lissonuffy

30. Kilmore

31. Kilglass

32. Termonbarry

33. Drumatemple

34. Cloonygormican

35. Ballynakill

36. Oran

37. Dunamon

38. Kilbride

39. Kilgefin

40. Cloontuskert

41. Roscommon

42. Kilteevan

43. Fuerty

44. Athleague

45. Kilmeane

46. Killinvoy or Killenvoy

47. Tisrara

48. Rahara

49. St. John’s or Ivernoon

50. Taghboy

51. Cam or Camma

52. Kiltoom

53. Dysart or Dysert

54.Taghmaconnell or

Taughmaconnell

55. St. Peter’s

56. Drum

57. Creagh

58. Moore

Roscommon Civil Parishes in Alphabetical Order

Ardcarn: 4

Athleague: 44

Aughrim: 19

Ballintober: 18

Ballynakill: 35

Baslick: 16

Boyle: 2

Bumlin: 26

Cam or Camma: 51

Castlemore: 9b

Clooncraff: 21

Cloonfinlough: 28

Cloontuskert: 40

Cloonygormican: 34

Creagh: 57

Creeve: 13

Drum: 56

Drumtemple: 33

Dunamon: 37

Dysart or Dysert: 53

Eastersnow or Estersnow: 6

Elphin: 22

Fuerty: 43

Kilbride: 38

Kilbryan: 3

Kilcolagh: 12

Kilcolman: 9a

Kilcooly: 25

Kilcorkey: 14

Kilgefin: 39

Kilglass: 31

Kelkeevan: 15

Killinvoy of Killenvoy: 46

Killukin (1): 7

Killukin (2): 27

Killumod: 8

Kilmacumsy: 12

Kilmeane: 45

Kilmore: 30

Kilnamanagh: 9

Kilronan: 1

Kilteevan: 42

Kiltoom: 52

Kiltrustan: 23

Kiltullagh: 17

Lissonuffy: 29

Moore: 58

Ogulla: 24

Oran: 36

Rahara: 48

Roscommon: 41

Shankill: 20

St. John’s or Ivernoon: 49

St. Peter’s: 55

Taghboy: 50

Taghmaconnell or

Taughmaconell: 54

Termonbarry: 32

Tibohine: 10

Tisrara: 47

Tumna: 5

Irish Historic Maps

The Ordnance Survey Ireland website (www.irishhistoricmaps.ie) contains 30,000 visual images of maps in State and University archives. Most of these span two eras, from 1824 to 1847, and from 1888 to 1913. Many are detailed and show locations of buildings, farms and streets, and other rich details about 19th century life: individual plots of land, cemeteries, schools, hospitals, businesses, factories, wells, and even trees and bushes. If the necessary information is available, the locations of individual dwellings may be found and local details may help provide information about the life they might have led.

Map of area around Roscommon town from Taylor & Skinner ‘Maps of the Roads of Ireland’ (1778) – republished 1969 by Irish University Press (Shannon).

Copy of death record from GRO register giving the details of Jonathan Hamrock’s death.

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Table of Contents

Abbreviations

Chapter 1

Introduction

Chapter 2

Conducting Family Research

Chapter 3

Administrative Divisions