Report Introduction
Print Page
Advisory Service
If you need to speak to or correspond with a Family History Researcher for advice, please note there is a consultation fee of €30.00 per half hour (please note no research is carried out for this fee - it is only an advisory service - if you proceed with a family history report the €30 is deducted from the full price).
It would be advisable to telephone for an appointment with a Researcher in advance of your visit to Tullamore to avoid disappointment.
Tel: 00353 57 9321421
Our office hours are Monday - Friday 9a.m. - 1.p.m.
and 2p.m. - 4 p.m.
Irish Midlands Ancestry has been set up to deal with enquiries from people who want to trace their Laois/Offaly ancestors. The difficulty faced by many people who want to trace their ancestry was that source material was scattered throughout both counties and elsewhere. Many of the available sources have now been gathered in one place and Irish Midlands Ancestry provides a full time professional genealogy service, which covers Counties Laois and Offaly.
The poverty and hardship that existed in Ireland during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries forced many thousands of Laois and Offaly men and women to seek a better life for themselves in a foreign land. Worse was to follow. The failure, due to blight of the potato crop in successive years in the 1840s deprived the masses of their staple food. Often fleeing alone, or whole families and even groups from the same parish, with nothing more than the clothes on their backs, a love of their country and the dream of returning some day. Leaving behind friends and loved ones, they set off for the nearest port with hopes for a better life in England, America, Australia and all parts of the world. Forced to flee the land they loved, it is a small wonder that their children and their children's children were inspired by the love of Ireland and their dream of returning some day.
Today we see the descendants of Ireland's sons and daughters making the return trip that was the dream of their ancestors and tracing their family roots is a thought that will have crossed the minds of all descendants of Irish emigrants who would love to know a little more about their roots and their homeland, and I am delighted to say that our centre is very professional when it comes to family history research in counties Laois and Offaly.
Our reports are unique and exclusive to your family history. The researcher devotes time and expertise in searching all sources available in compiling your family history, which can be treasured by you and your family and passed on to future generations. From time to time we have established links between families in all corners of the world, which had been broken for centuries. Over the years we have had many satisfied customers.
Geography of Offaly
A county is divided into baronies, baronies into civil parishes, which are further divided into sub-divisions known as "townlands". Baronies are no longer used, but need to be recognised in 19th century research. Your ancestors lived in the barony of Ballybritt.
Parishes are of two kinds, civil and Roman Catholic. Civil parishes are very old and quite small. Roman Catholic parishes, dating from late 18th century and early 19th century re-organisation, are much larger, sometimes incorporating more than one civil parish in whole or in part. The Roman Catholic parish in which your ancestors lived was Kinnitty. It comprises the civil parish of Kinnitty. The civil parish was the unit of division utilised for the 19th century land/householder surveys, which often prove a useful source of information.
Sources
The basic sources, which we utilise in our research, are as follows:
Church records comprise baptisms, which can be taken as occurring within a few days of birth, and marriages. The majority of Roman Catholic parishes did not keep death or burial records. When trying to remedy this lack by visiting the relevant graveyard, it should be remembered that those gravestones surviving today represent less than 2% - 3% of the population.
The 1901 Census is the earliest complete census to survive in Ireland, as earlier ones mostly perished in a fire at the Public Records Office in 1922. Fortunately some fragments of 19th century returns did survive. It is useful as a quick check on ages, occupations and the native county of people on the move.
There are two 19th century land/householder surveys, which are also a useful source of information. The first of the two surveys mentioned is known as the Tithe Applotment (= assessment of land values for a church tax known as a Tithe). There is a book for every civil parish, most date between 1823 and 1837. Note that only land is included in this survey. Houses are not. Researchers must therefore not expect to find town property in this source, and must not take the absence of a name as the absence of a person of that name unless they know he was a farmer. The majority of rural dwellers at that time i.e. Pre-Famine, were labourers and are therefore not included in this survey. It does, however, include the small landholder, the majority of whom leased their land and many would have properties as small as one acre.
The second survey, known after its author as Griffith's Valuation (GV for short), belongs to the years immediately after 1850. It sought to value every house and piece of land as a basis for a property tax known in Ireland as a "rate". It is more comprehensive than the Tithe books in that it covers every house as well as every farm.
Finally, civil records are another potential source. Civil registration of births, deaths and marriages began in Ireland in 1864. These are kept at the local County Registrar's office. Civil marriage records are particularly useful as, unlike the Church marriage record, these certificates give the name of the father of the bride and groom, their ages and addresses etc.
Abbreviations:
R.C......................Roman Catholic
C.I......................Church of Ireland
C.E.....................Church of England
Me......................Methodist
c........................circa, approximate date
D/O.....................Daughter of
S/O.....................Son of
Site Hosted by Dotser
Family History Report - Research Form - Research Centres - Fees