Donegal Studies - Family History

Family History

The Central Library contains a very important collection of books, journals and other materials on genealogy and family history for people of Donegal ancestry. While we do not have primary materials, such as records of births, marriages etc., our family history resources can help you get started on your search for that elusive ancestor. Spending a day, or part of a day, in the Central Library is the best way to make use of these unique resources, but we intend that you may also access these resources online to an increasing degree.

Central Library, Letterkenny

Family History: getting started

Your chances of success in tracing ancestors will greatly depend on the amount of information you have to begin with. It is advisable to talk to as many older members of your family as you can to glean what information they have, even if they themselves might not regard what they know as very much. You should also check any documentation, including family Bibles and old family letters, which may contain relevant information. Every snippet of information can be checked against the sources later, although in many cases family lore may take you back further than the sources listed below.

If you live outside Ireland it is wise to consult, as well as family lore, all records that might have a reference to the ancestor(s) in question; immigration records, passenger lists, naturalisation records, civil and church records, military records, convict transportation records (for Australia). Knowing the birthplace of the ancestor being researched - the townland or even the parish - will often make all the difference between a successful and unsuccessful search.

It is as well to note that many of the sources most often referred to in books on genealogy, including the older sources listed below, will be of little use to the majority of people searching for their ancestors. This is because usually only prominent landowners were listed. The vast bulk of printed and MSS information on genealogy and family history contained in the principal repositories in Ireland refers to a fairly small group of families. Ironically these are usually people who need such information least, as their own genealogies are documented in their family legal papers.

Family History Sources at the Central Library

The following major sources are found in the Central Library:

Census Records and Census Substitutes

• 1901 Census; 1911 Census

  Because of the destruction of the Four Courts building during the Civil War, the earliest surviving complete records are for the censuses taken in 1901 and 1911. We hold microfilm copies of both the 1901 and 1911 Census returns for the County, [originals in the National Archives]. These list all those present in the household on the night of the census (31st March 1901, and on a range of dates from January to May 1911), their relationship to the householder, religion, occupation, age and other personal details. The returns are arranged by District Electoral Division and townland.

The other records in this category can be classed as census substitutes.

• Muster Roll

This is the oldest census substitute listing we hold dating from1630. It is a list of able-bodied men able to fight if needed for the Crown, listed by barony and 'undertaker'. It is reprinted in Donegal Annual Vol. 10 (2). 1972. pp130-149, from the BM Add. MS 4770 manuscript.

• Civil Survey

This is a record of land ownership compiled between 1654 and 1656. The Civil Survey for Donegal is printed, along with those for Derry and Tyrone, in a monograph published in 1937. [The Civil survey A.D. 1654-1656. Dublin: Stationery Office, 1937].

• Pender's 'Census'

This is a similar record, laid out by barony and townland, listing persons with title to land, the numbers of Irish and English, and principal Irish names (a valuable list). It takes its name from Seamus Pender, who edited it, but it was compiled in 1659 by William Petty. [Seamus Pender. A Census of Ireland circa 1659. Dublin: Stationery Office, 1939].

• Pynnar's Survey

This is, like Pender's Census, a survey of the native Irish tenants remaining on forfeited lands, and is contained in The Plantation in Ulster by George Hill. Belfast: M'Caw, Stevenson & Orr, 1877. 621p.

• Hearth Money Rolls

These list the names of householders who were eligible to pay the Hearth Tax, and were compiled in 1665. Ours is an indexed photocopy, from the PRONI T. 307/C manuscript.

• Wills

Abstract of Wills in the Registry of Deeds
Volume 1 1708 - 1745
Volume 2 1746 - 1785
Volume 3 1785 - 1832.

• Freeholders

This is a bound typescript of the owners of freeholds in Donegal, registered between 1760 and 1769. The original manuscripts were found in the basement of Lifford Courthouse in 1933 and sent to the National Library.

• Raphoe Marriage Registers

This is a photocopy of some 18th century Catholic marriages in the Protestant registers of the Diocese of Raphoe.

• Protestant householders

A list of Protestant householders in the parish of Leck in 1766 is reprinted in Lecky's The Laggan and its Presbyterianism (1905). This also lists Hearth Money Rolls for East Donegal [1665], tenants on the Abercorn estate, and householders in St. Johnston, both 1794.

• Parish of Culdaff

This is a photocopy of a List of persons in the Parish of Culdaff, March 8th, 1782.

• Spinning-wheel premium lists

This is a photocopy of those persons in Donegal to whom a premium was paid in 1796, in connection with the spinning of flax.

• Tithe Applotments

These are lists of landholders, originally compiled as the basis for the tithe payments which had to be paid to the local Church of Ireland Rector. We hold bound photocopies of the Tithe Applotment books for the parishes of Aghaninshin (1834), Aughnish (1830), Burt (183-); Desertegney (183-) and Donegal (183-). That for Mevagh (1827) is reprinted in Leslie Lucas's Mevagh down the years Belfast: Appletree Press, 1982. [originals in the National Archives].

• Other Photocopied Material

'Donegal remembers World War I dead' (a list of men from the County who fought and died in World War I).
A List of families in the Parish of Conwal 1878 / compiled by W. Craig.
Old Letterkenny families / compiled by Sam Fleming.
Murlog Church baptisms 1773-1777.
St. Eunan's Letterkenny: List of Marriage Lines 1857.

Land Records ~ Griffith's Valuation

• Griffith's Primary Valuation

This - the first standard valuation of all real property in Ireland - lists householders and lessors by townland, parish, poor law union, and barony. We hold a full set for Donegal, in volumes arranged by barony. Although the publication dates for County Donegal are stated to be 1857-58, there is strong evidence to suggest that the valuation was carried out up to a decade earlier. It is known, for instance, that some persons listed as being present in 1857-58 had died in the Famine. The maps relating to Griffith's Valuation are in the Valuation Office, Dublin.

Genealogical and family history information is also to be found in some monographs e.g. Amy Isabel Young's Three hundred years in Inishowen Belfast: McCaw, Stevenson & Orr, 1929, Charlie Conaghan's History and antiquities of Killybegs Ballyshannon, 1975, and others.

Other Sources

Emigration Lists

We hold a number of published passenger lists (mainly for vessels leaving Derry Port) and of US immigration lists. The earliest records date from 1735. They include:

• Donegal passengers on the Assisted Passenger Lists from Plymouth, England to Sydney Australia 1848-1868/ complied by Richard Reid.

• Emigrants from Ireland to America 1735-1743 / by Frances McDonnell.

• Passengers from Ireland: lists of passengers arriving at American ports between 1811 and 1817 / by Donald M. Schlegel.

• Irish passenger lists 1847-1871: lists of passengers sailing from Londonderry to America on ships of the J & J. Cooke Line and the McCorkell Line / compiled by Brian Mitchell.

• Passenger list of the 'Invercargill' which sailed to New Zealand 1878 (65 passengers from County Donegal) [photocopy].

• Immigration of Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania 1682-1750

• The Famine immigrants, listing Irish immigrants arriving at the Port of new York [7 volumes]

Volume 1: Jan 1846 - June 1847
Volume 2: July 1847 - June 1848
Volume 3: July 1848 - March 1849
Volume 4: April 1849 - Sept 1849
Volume 5: Oct 1849 - May 1850
Volume 6: June 1850 - March 1851
Volume 7: April 1851 - Dec 1851

• The Search for missing friends: Irish immigrant adveritisements placed in the Boston Pilot [8 volumes]

Volume 1: 1831 - 1850
Volume 2: 1851 - 1853
Volume 3: 1854 - 1856
Volume 4: 1857 - 1860
Volume 5: 1861 - 1865
Volume 6: 1866 - 1870
Volume 7: 1871 - 1876
Volume 8: 1877 - 1920.

Parish Registers

We hold microfilm copies of the parish registers of the Church of Ireland parishes of Inver, Mountcharles, Killaghtee and Killybegs, all in the South of the County. The Inver records (Baptisms and Marriages) begin in 1805, Killybegs Baptisms in 1809 and Marriages in 1838, Killaghtee Marriages begin in 1857 and baptisms in 1873, and Mountcharles Marriages in 1861 and Baptisms in 1877.

Gravestone Inscriptions

We hold, in typescript form, records of gravestone inscriptions for the following graveyards, including a layout plan:

Aughaninshin St. Catherines, Killybegs
Balleeghan Kilmacrennan
Bruckless Kilmonaster
Clonleigh Leck
Gartan St. Eunan's Cathedral, Raphoe
Old Inver Raymoghy
Church of Ireland, Inver Tullaghobegley
Old Killaghtee Tullyaughnish
Church of Ireland, Killaghtee

A number of records of gravestone inscriptions have been published:

• Assaroe Abbey
  in Ó Gallachair, Pádraig. 'Assaroe Cemetery' Donegal Annual Vol. 3 (3). 1957. pp81-107.

• Ballyshannon, Church of Ireland
  in Begley, Anthony. 'Graveyard inscriptions at St. Anne's Church of Ireland, Ballyshannon'. Donegal Annual Vol 12 (2). 1978. pp320-358.

• Carne, Pettigo
  in Ó Gallachair, Pádraig, Slevin, P., and Cunningham, John 'Carne graveyeard, Pettigo, Co. Donegal' Donegal Annual Vol. 41, 1989. pp135-156.

• Finner
  in Ó Gallachair, Padraig Where Erne and Drowes meet the Sea [s.l.: s.n.] 1961.

• Machaire Gathláin (Maheragallon)
  in Irish Family History 5, 1989.

Directories

We hold a range of directories, in printed and microfiche form of interest to the North West of Ireland, listing merchants and 'gentlemen'. These include

• Slater's Directory of Ireland 1846, 1856, 1870, 1881 and 1884.

• Pigot's Directory of Ireland 1820, 1821, 1822 and 1824.

• Porter's Guide to the manufacturers and shippers of Ireland 1908.

Links

For further information on Family History & Genealogy in County Donegal contact

Donegal County Archives
Donegal Ancestry
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths
National Library of Ireland
National Archives of Ireland
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Library of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, Ellis Island
Church Of Ireland