Author Archives: Nicola Morris

Who Do You Think You Are? Damien Dempsey

In a recent Irish episode of Who Do You Think You Are? singer and songwriter Damien Dempsey discovered that his maternal ancestor, Frederick Bridgeman, was granted Freedom of the city of Dublin in 1841.Freemen of the City of DublinIn a description on the website of the Dublin City Library and Archives, which hosts a database of records for freemen of

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Farnham Estate Papers for Newtownbarry

While researching a collection of estate papers for the Farnham Estate in Newtownbarry in Co. Wexford for the late 18th and early 19th century I came across an intriguing document. The estate records were found in the National Library of Ireland and in Ms. 8527 (5), a collection of drafts and memoranda of legal documents concerning the Newtownbarry

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WDYTYA Molly Shannon

Much of the focus of our research for the WDYTYA Molly Shannon episode was to try and understand the relationship between her ancestors, the Cattigan family, and their landlords, the Pikes. An article discovered in the Connaught Telegraph (9th February 1889), published on the Irish News Archive, reported that the local relieving officer presented

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Finding a Second Marriage

In a recent search for the second marriage of a couple in Dublin city I noticed an issue at www.irishgenealogy.ieThe subject of my search was a man named John Patrick Nolan.  John Patrick Nolan went by both John Nolan and Patrick Nolan, which was the first obstacle in my search. In 1901 John Nolan was residing with his first wife, Margaret in Bellevue

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Preacher’s Books

Preacher’s books form part of the collection of Church of Ireland parish records lodged in the Representative Church Body Library in Churchtown, Dublin.   A preacher’s book can be quite a dry and sparse document, but nevertheless sometimes informative. It is a record of the date of and time of the church service, the name of the reader and preacher

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Betham’s Will Abstracts

A collection of the Genealogical Office volumes of Betham’s Will Abstracts have been published online by the National Library of Ireland. Betham’s Will Abstracts are abstracts of wills proved in the Prerogative Court, records which were largely destroyed in 1922. Prerogative Court Before the establishment of the Probate Court in 1857, the Church

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More Births, Marriages and Deaths Online

The Irish Government website www.irishgenealogy.ie has expanded the images of birth, marriage and death registrations being made available online. Researchers can now search the index of marriages (1864-1941) and view the original marriage registration entries from 1870 to 1941.  The index of deaths (1864-1966) now links to images of death registrations

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Release of More Military Service Pension Applications

The latest release of Military Service Pension Applications on 24th October 2017 adds almost 5,000 new scanned files to the collection, bringing the number of files online up to about 20,000, relating to 6,564 individuals. The files are available to search at the website of the Irish Military Archives.  The Pension Applications have also been indexed

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Surprises in the Tithe Applotment Books

The Tithe Applotment Books are a nationwide survey of property undertaken between 1823 and 1838 for the purpose of assessing the rate of the Tithe, a religious tax that was levied for the upkeep of the established church, the Church of Ireland. The Tithe was levied on certain types of agricultural land and as such the survey is certainly not as comprehensive

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DEDs and the Valuation Office

If you have the chance to visit the Valuation Office in Dublin to consult the Valuation Office Revision Books you will have discovered that a large part of their collection has now been digitised and can be accessed using the computer terminals in the public research room. Original copies of the books that have been digitised will not now be produced

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