Brian Mitchell's "Big Four" Irish Genealogy Reference Tools
With St Patrick’s Day nearly upon us, we are once again honored by guest-blogger, Brian Mitchell. Brian is an internationally-recognized genealogist, authority on County Derry, author of several Irish genealogy reference books, and generous friend to IGSI. Last December he shared recommendations about on-line Irish resources. Today he's enlightening us with this early St. Patrick's Day gift, for which we're very thankful:
The ‘Big Four’ Irish Genealogy Reference Tools for St. Patrick’s Day
Townland Location
- The single most important tool in identifying Irish place names is the Townland Index, full title General Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns, Parishes and Baronies of Ireland (Alexander Thom, Dublin, 1861; reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1984). It is a record of townland names, their size and location – by county, barony, civil parish, poor law union and 1st edition Ordnance Survey map number – as recorded in the 1851 census and as they have been officially spelt and designated ever since. This book is, by far, the most important, and most used, in my genealogical collection.
The “Placenames” search option at www.irishtimes.com/ancestor enables researchers to search the Townland Index, together with street listings from Dublin, Cork and Belfast cities, to pinpoint county, civil parish and poor law union locations for more than 65,000 place names.
Place History- To gain insight into the economic and social landscape of 19th century Ireland you can consult A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, published in 1837, by Samuel Lewis. Arranged in alphabetical order by place this dictionary provides an overview of the geography and history of Ireland’s villages, parishes and towns, as they existed at the time of publication (1837). This book can now be viewed online at http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/placeindex.php.
- You can identify the civil parishes of Ireland, and their associated townlands, on the Irish Ancestors website at www.irishtimes.com/ancestor by selecting ‘Civil parish summary’ and by clicking on county of interest. Alternatively Brian Mitchell’s A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland (Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 2nd Edition, 2002) maps, by county, Ireland’s network of civil parishes (Church of Ireland parishes normally conform to the civil parish), Roman Catholic parishes and, for the 9 northern counties of Ulster, its network of Presbyterian congregations.
- You can view, free of charge, the historic 19th century mapping archive of Ordnance Survey Ireland at www.irishhistoricmaps.ie. Simply pan across the map, select map series (such as Historic 6”, Historic 6” B&W or Historic 25”) and zoom in to view the townland in greater detail. Historic 6” refers to 6 inch mapping series, both colour and greyscale, of 1837-1842, and Historic 25” to 25 inch mapping series, greyscale, of 1888-1913.
