A Guide to Tracing Your Sligo Ancestors

Acknowledgements

Many organisations and individuals assisted in the writing of this guide. In particular I would like to acknowledge the following for assistance in accessing records and/or for supplying illustrations:

National Library of Ireland for assistance and for the use of illustrations of their holdings; Patrick Gannon of Sligo Public Library; Adrian Regan, John McTernan and their team at Sligo Heritage and Genealogy Centre; Eileen Hewson of Kabristan Archives; Ross Weldon of www.Findmypast.ie; and National Archives. I would also like to acknowledge the major input of my colleague Brian Smith in the editing and proofing of the text.

A Guide to Tracing Your Sligo Ancestors

 

 

James G. Ryan

 

 

 

 

First published in 2012

 

Flyleaf Press

4 Spencer Villas

Glenageary

Co. Dublin

Ireland

www.flyleaf.ie

© 2012 Flyleaf Press

British Library cataloguing in Publications Data available

ISBN 978-1-907990-04-5

 

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

Contents

Foreword

Abbreviations

Chapter 1Introduction

Chapter 2Administrative Divisions and Maps

Chapter 3Civil Registration

Chapter 4Censuses and Census Substitutes

Chapter 5Church Records

Chapter 6Land and Estate Records

Chapter 7Wills, Administrations and Marriage Licences

Chapter 8Commercial and Social Directories

Chapter 9Family Names and Histories

Chapter 10Newspapers

Chapter 11Gravestone Inscriptions

Chapter 12Further Reading and Miscellaneous Sources

Chapter 13Archive and Internet Information

Index

Foreword

Sligo is a maritime county in the Province of Connacht, bordered on the west by the Atlantic, on the north by Leitrim and on the east and south by Roscommon and Mayo. In the 19^th century, the capital Sligo (population 20,000), was the principal emigration port during the mass exodus that occurred from the north-west of Ireland.

The native Gaelic families in the area are MacDonagh, MacFirbis, O’Connor, O’Dowd, O’Gara and O’Hara. In the aftermath of the Norman invasion they regained possession of their hereditary lands. They were later joined by mercenary families such as MacDonnells, MacSweenys and O’Harts. In the Cromwellian Settlement that followed upon the unsuccessful 1641 Uprising, the aforementioned chieftains forfeited most if not all of their hereditary possessions. Their lands were allotted, in lieu of pay, to the disbanded officers in Coote’s Regt. Among these were the ancestors of well-known county families - Cooper, Crofton, Gore, Nicholson, Ormsby, Parke, Phibbs, Irwin and Wood.

In the ‘Census’ of 1659 the principal surnames in the County were: O’Hart, O’Connor, McGowan and Feeney in Carbury; O’Gara in Coolavin; McDonagh, (O’) Scanlon, O’Healy and Brennan in Corran; Gallagher and O’Hara in Leyney; O’Dowd, Kelly, Burke, Boland and McDonnell in Tireragh; McDonagh, Conlon, Breheny, Healy and Higgins in Tirerrill. The most common surnames in the Borough of Sligo in 1749 (Elphin Census) were: Kelly, Gallagher, McGowan, (O)’Hart, Higgins, Connor/O’Connor, McDonagh, Walsh, Egan and (O)’Crean. An index of computerised marriage records in the Sligo Centre (page 154) shows that the most common surnames are: Gallagher, Brennan, McGowan, Kelly, Gilmartin, Healy, Walsh, Hart, Feeney, MacDonagh and Connor /O’Connor.

Sligo has been the birthplace of many individuals who achieved fame or notoriety at home and abroad. These included Duald MacFirbis and Charles O’Conor, noted antiquaries and historians; Charles Phillips and Bourke Cockran, orators of international fame; Ambrose O’Higgins, Governor of Chile and Viceroy of Peru; Count Nicholas Taaffe of the Holy Roman Empire; General Michael Corcoran of the 69^th New York Brigade; Francis MacDonagh and Hugh H. MacDermot, legal luminaries; eminent chemists, Bryan and William Higgins; Eva Gore-Booth, poetess; Gabriel Stokes, noted mathematician; Edward J. Cooper, the Markree astronomer; R. T. Henn, Yeatsian scholar, and countless others.

As a board-member of the Co. Sligo Heritage and Genealogy Society I welcome this publication which will be an invaluable tool for all those undertaking research into their Sligo ancestry. The layout and contents are easy to follow and author, Jim Ryan, is to be complimented on the comprehensive nature of the source material on offer. “Tracing your Sligo Ancestors” is not only a welcome addition to other titles in the series but also a valuable source for students wishing to delve into Sligo’s chequered past.

Abbreviations Used

b.	Baptism
c.	circa
Co.	County
CoI	Church of Ireland
d.	death/died
ed.	Editor /edited (by)
GO	Genealogical Office (now part of National Library of Ireland)
GRO	General Register Office
IMC	Irish Manuscripts Commission
Ir. Anc.	Irish Ancestor
Ir. Gen.	Irish Genealogist
J. or Jnl.	Journal
J. Gen. Soc. I.	Journal of Genealogical Society of Ireland
JAPMD	Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead
LC	Local Custody
Lib.	Library
m. or marr.	marriage/ married
mf.	microfilm/fiche
Ms/Mss	Manuscript/s
NAI	National Archives of Ireland (formerly PRO)
n.d.	not dated
NLI	National Library of Ireland
p./pp.	page/ pages
PRO	Public Record Office (now National Archives of Ireland)
Pr.pr.	Privately printed
PRONI	Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Pub.	published/ publisher
RC	Roman Catholic
RCB(L)	Representative Church Body (Library)
RIA	Royal Irish Academy
JRSAI	Journal of Royal Society of Antiquarians in Ireland
SHGC	Sligo Heritage and Genealogical Centre (see page 154)
SLC	Family History Library, Salt Lake City (and branches)
Soc.	Society
SOG	Society of Genealogists
TCD	Trinity College Dublin

Chapter 1 Introduction

Tracing an ancestor requires patience, persistence and a plan. Patience - because you will need to consult many different historical sources, and many will contain no information of value; Persistence, because unless you keep trying you will not put all of the information together; and a Plan because the process is confusing and generates a lot of data which may ultimately prove useless. You must be organised if you are to make sense of the information you find, and be able to access what is useful when it is needed.

There is no magic formula for successful research. However, initial research should be based on the following principles:

• Record as much detail as possible from living relatives. Even dubious information should not be ignored until the true facts are established. The elimination of false information is as much a part of family research as is the confirmation of valid information.
• Construct a pedigree chart so as not to confuse different generations, especially when a personal (Christian) name is very common within a family, as is often the case.
• Work from the known to the unknown, i.e. always try to establish a connection between a known family member and a previous generation, or another potential family member. Many Irish family names are locally common and it is easy to presume a connection that is not real.

Having gathered as much details as possible from your family members and family papers, you should plan to verify and expand this information using the available records and sources. This book is designed to help you do this. The nature, timeframes and locations of the available sources are described in the following chapters. Descriptions of the available sources are arranged by chapter according to the source type, i.e. civil registration, church records, census returns, newspapers, directories etc.

No source will have the full story. Your task is to pick the useful bits that they contain and piece them together to form a comprehensive picture of a family’s existence. The final picture depends on the number and quality of these details. Sligo, in common with many western Irish counties, does not have a huge resource of records. Therefore it is important that those available are used effectively.

The records available to you vary widely in their genealogical content and value. They are usually differentiated as Primary Sources which record information directly obtained from or about your ancestor (e.g. Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths; church records; census records; Wills and administrations) and Secondary Sources which were created for other purposes, but nevertheless assist the researcher to locate an ancestor in an area at a particular time (e.g. Tithe Applotment, Griffith’s Valuations, local histories etc). Some of the above sources will also provide the researcher with interesting background details.

Other sources can also be of great assistance in providing information about the lifestyle of an ancestor. They can, in some cases, be used to define a timeframe in which a primary source can be consulted. They include newspapers, journals, published family histories and documents.

For the optimal use of these records, it is important to understand the system of administrative divisions used in Ireland. These divisions or areas are described in Chapter 2. They are vital in determining an ancestor’s address or location. Many, if not most, sources are arranged according to such divisions, and an understanding of the different elements of an ancestor’s address is therefore important.

The abbreviations used throughout the book are explained on page 8 and contact details for the organisations, libraries and archives cited can be found in Chapter 13. Most publications cited are to be found in most major libraries and archives.

While County Sligo is not as wealthy in genealogical sources as some other counties, the collection of primary, secondary and other sources covered will help provide the researcher with a fascinating insight as to how and where an ancestor lived.

Firstly, some background on this interesting Connaught county. It contains the towns of Sligo, Ballymote, Tubbercurry, Collooney, Ballysodare, and Enniscrone, and was the ancestral territory of a branch of the O’Connors, called O’Connor Sligo. Other Gaelic families associated with the county include O’Dowd, O’Gara, O’Hara, O’Hart, McDonagh, Mac Firbis, and O’Colman. The site of the town of Sligo has been of strategic importance since ancient times as all traffic on the coastal route between South and North had to ford the river here. A fortress which guarded this ford was plundered by Norse pirates as early as A.D. 807.

After the Norman invasion of Connacht in 1235, Sligo was granted to Maurice Fitzgerald who effectively founded Sligo town by building a castle there in 1245 and making it his residence. The Taaffe family was among the Norman families who settled in the county. Further settlers were brought into the county at various periods, including weavers from the north of Ireland brought in by Lord Shelbourne in 1749. The county was, and still is, home to several major family estates, some of whose records are available for research.

Apart from the weaving industry and some mining operations, Sligo was basically an agricultural county. The town of Sligo was an important port in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was also an important port of emigration, and the main port of emigration for the Northwest of Ireland during Famine times.

The peak of population was reached in 1841 at 181,000. The Great Famine of 1845-47 badly affected the county and the population had dropped by 52,000 in ten years, including some 20,000 deaths. By 1901 the population had fallen to 84,000 and is currently 56,000. Its most notable sons are arguably the poet William Butler Yeats and his painter brother Jack B. Yeats.