Researching family history is compelling even when it’s not your own family!

My friend, who’s planning a trip to Ireland this fall, is especially interested in knowing more about her maternal line going back to her 2X great-grandmother, Abigail Evans (1833-1899). The word “matrilineal” could be defined by the relationships in her family; Abigail was my friend’s mother’s mother’s mother’s mother.

Among her family records are a typed, multi-page narrative written by a great-aunt in the 1960s, including an old photograph of the ancestral home near Delgany, County Wicklow, where Abigail Evans grew up. The house was built circa 1830 and is still occupied. Shown below are an undated family photo (on the left) and a more recent photo (on the right) courtesy of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) website. Visiting this property is assuredly on my friend’s itinerary in Ireland.

My research assistance focused on more traditional genealogy, i.e., people instead of buildings. I discovered an extraordinarily rich resource, the Anglican Research Project, self-described as an “ongoing endeavour to make the registers of baptism, marriage and burial from Church of Ireland parishes available in a digital format.”

Indexed transcripts of five volumes of Christ Church Delgany (Glendalough) baptism/marriage/burial records (1666-2000) can be searched online. I found the baptism record of Thomas “James” Evans, Abigail’s grandfather, who was born in 1778, as well as multiple BMD entries for members of the extended Evans family. A gold mine of details at my fingertips--and free!

Start here to find out what online baptism/marriage/burial records are currently hosted by the Representative Church Body (RCB) Library.