University of St. Thomas

Irish Genealogical Resources in the Department of Special Collections, 
O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library, University of St. Thomas  
(rev. 11/2003) 

The Department of Special Collections houses a rich variety of resources of potential interest to genealogists tracing their Irish antecedents. Resources housed in the Department emphasize "the Irish in Ireland" more than "the Irish in the United States and Canada”.

The holdings of the Department of Special Collections are fully cataloged.  Information on these works is available through CLICnet (http://clicnet.clic.edu/), the Libraries’ online catalog.  Materials designated Special – Ref are shelved on the north wall of the department’s Reading Room.  For access to other materials on the list, please ask for assistance.

A. THE IRISH IN IRELAND 

I. Name Books 

Beginning family historians often know nothing of their Irish background other than the fact that their name is "Irish."  The following works may be useful in locating information on surnames.

Special - Ref CS453 .B55 1974 
Your Irish Ancestors  

Special - Ref CS498 .G7 1993  
Irish Family Histories
  
Special - Ref CS498 .M3        
Irish Families 
 
Special - Ref CS2411 .M25 1985   
The Surnames of Ireland 
 
Special - Ref CS2411 .W6 1992    
Irish Names and Surnames  

Special - Ref CS2415 .B45 1988    
The Book of Ulster Surnames  

Special – Ref CS2415 G74 1997     
Dictionary of Irish Family Names

Special - Ref CS2419 .C67 M87 1985 
Family Names of County Cork
  
Special - Ref CS2419 .D4 M5 1992    
The Surnames of Derry  

Special - Ref CS2419 .W49 M87 1986  
Families of Wexford

   
II. Census Returns

Most modern (pre-1901) Irish census records were destroyed in the Public Records Office (Dublin) fire during the Irish Civil War.  Fragments of early censuses survive and some of them have been published, including the volumes noted on the following list.

Special CS497 .C7 M37 1996
County Cork, Ireland: a Collection of 1851 Census Records 

Special CS497 .L68 L44 1990 
County Longford and its People: an Index to the 1901 Census for County Longford 

Special DA950.2 .M37 1999 
Ireland: 1841/1851 Census Abstracts (Northern Ireland) 

Special DA950.2 .M38 1999  
Ireland: 1841/1851 Census Abstracts (Republic of Ireland)

Special – Micro DA990 .L8 I45 
1831 Census (County Londonderry)  

 

III. "Griffith's Valuation" 

The Department owns an incomplete microfiche edition of the Surname Index to the …Griffith's Valuation … of Ireland, the property survey of Ireland undertaken from 1850-1862, which constitutes the closest thing to a census now extant for mid-19th-century Ireland.  The Department owns the index for the following cities and counties:  Belfast, Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Fermanagh, Limerick, Longford, Monaghan, Tipperary, and Waterford. 

Special – Micro HD629 .S9 W3 1988  
Surname Index to the …Griffith's Valuation of Ireland 

IV. Spinning Wheel Entitlement Lists 

A survey was undertaken in 1796 of those planting flax and producing linen cloth at home.  While the cloth industry was concentrated in Ulster, spinners could be found throughout Ireland and surviving survey entries exist for thirty of Ireland's thirty-two counties.  The "Spinning Wheel Survey" serves as a partial census of the "respectable" working poor and the lower-to-middle middle-class, i.e. those people who could afford a spinning wheel or wheels and the related accoutrements of the trade. 
 
Special - Micro CS480 .A458 1986   
Surname Index for the 1796 Spinning Wheel Premium Entitlement Lists of Ireland  

 

V. Irish Newspapers/Magazines 

The Biographical Notices… and Index to Biographical Notices… are indexes of personal names extracted from selected newspapers in the southern half of the island.  They note births, deaths, marriages, confirmations, etc. and are useful for linking names with localities.
While its coverage focuses on Ulster, the Belfast Newsletter covers events in (and includes biographical notices from) the entire island.  The name and ship indexes included are of particular interest to family historians.     

Special – Micro DA916.8 .F4 1969          
Biographical Notices (Primarily Relating to Counties Cork and Kerry) Collected From Newspapers, 1756-1827; With a Few References 1749-1755  

Special – Micro DA916.8 .F4 I45 1985        
Index to Biographical Notices in the Newspapers of Limerick, Ennis,Clomel and Waterford, 1758-1821  

Special – Micro PN5149 .B43 B45 1992      
The Belfast Newsletter, 1737-1800  

Special – Micro PN5149 .B43 B453 1993   
Belfast Newsletter Index, 1738 – 1800 

 

VI. Cemeteries, Gravestones, Etc. 

Wandering through Irish cemeteries looking for gravestones of long-dead ancestors is a fruitful source of genealogical data. Fortunately for genealogists, local historical societies in Ireland sometimes publish transcriptions of gravestones in their localities. 
 
Special CS488 .A7             
Fund for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead, "Reports" (7 vols. plus index)
 
Special – Ref CS497 .A57 G7  
Gravestone Inscriptions: County Antrim (vols. 1-2) 

Special – Ref CS497 .B44 C57 1982 
Gravestone Inscriptions: Belfast (vols. 1-4)
 
Special - Ref CS497 .N6 C5  
Gravestone Inscriptions: County Down (vols. 1, 2, 5,   6, 8-20 in print; vols. 3, 4, and 7 on microfiche) 

Special – Ref DA990 .D7 S465 2000  
Tombstones of Ireland: Counties Down and Roscommon 

 

VII. Wills 
Given the dearth of Irish census records, wills have become an important source of Irish genealogical information.  Listed below are the published guides to Irish wills available in the Department. 
  
Special CS482 .A54 1998  
Registry of Deeds, Dublin: Abstracts of Wills, 1708-1785  

Special CS482 .I6 1997    
Index to the Act or Grant Books and to original wills of the Diocese of Dublin (c.1638) to the year 1800   

Special CS482 .P62 1997   
Indexes to Irish Wills. 

Special CS482 .V5 1997    
Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland, 1536-1810. 

Special - Ref CS484 .C4 1972  
A Guide to Copies & Abstracts of Irish Wills   
      
Special – Ref CS484 .G85 1998 
Guide to the Dublin Genealogical Office (includes index to the Will Abstracts in the DGO) 

  
VIII. Irish Localities 

Irish geographic names (for villages, parishes, poor-law unions, towns, counties, etc.) sometimes are difficult to "place."  An excellent descriptive source for place-names as they existed in the 19th-century is: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, by Samuel Lewis. Lewis is best used in conjunction with A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland, by Brian Mitchell, which includes maps of Irish counties, dioceses, probate districts, parishes, baronies, and poor-law unions. 

Special – Oversize DA979 .L48
A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland 2 vol. plus atlas 

Special - Ref G1830 M5 2000   
A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland  

 

IX. Manuscript Resources: Estate Papers, Personal Papers, Etc. 

Richard J. Hayes, for many years the director of the National Library of Ireland, undertook (over several decades) a monumental survey of Irish manuscripts in Irish, British, and continental archives.  The resulting volumes include many items of genealogical interest.   
"Hayes" is divided into the following sections:  "Persons," "Subjects," "Places," and "Dates."  Please consult vol. 1 for an introduction to the entire series.  References to the manuscript repositories involved sometimes are cryptic.  Most of the libraries, archives, and museums mentioned now have Websites (sometimes with online searchable catalogues) from which addresses can be obtained.

Special – Ref DA910 .D851 1965     
Manuscript Sources for the History of Irish Civilization ( 11 vols. + 3 supplemental vols.) 

B. THE IRISH IN NORTH AMERICA 

I. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index 

The Passenger and Immigration Lists Index consists of a personal name index to hundreds of genealogy books, generally items published before 1900.  The numeral recorded in heavy black type as part of an entry in these volumes refers to the book from which the entry was extracted, as listed on the inside front cover, and the first several pages, of a given volume.  You can determine whether or not the St. Thomas libraries own a particular book referenced by consulting CLICnet (http://clicnet.clic.edu/search/ ). 

Special – Ref CS68 .F537 1981
Passenger and Immigration Lists Index (3 vols.)
 
Special – Ref CS68 .P38 1985  
Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1982-85 Cumulative Supplements (4 vols.)
 
Special – Ref CS68 .P38 1990  
Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1986-90 Cumulative Supplements (3 vols.)

 
II. Passenger/Immigration/Gravestone Lists  

The Department of Special Collections holds a small collection of passenger and immigration lists and gravestone inscriptions relating to Irish who immigrated to the United States.
 
Special - Ref CS68 .B748 1977  
Ship Passenger Lists: National and New England (1600-1825)

Special - Ref CS68 .B749 1978  
Ship Passenger Lists: New York and New Jersey (1600-1825)  

Special - Ref CS68 .B75 1979  
Ship Passenger Lists: the South (1538-1825)

Special - Ref CS68 .B76 1980  
Ship Passenger Lists: Pennsylvania and Delaware (1641-1825)

Special - Ref CS68 .P37 1990  
Passengers to America

Special - Ref CS68 .T461 1982 
Passenger Arrivals at the Port of Baltimore 1820-1834. 

Special - Ref CS411 .A3 1992  
An Alphabetical Index to Ulster Emigration to Philadelphia, 1803-1850. 

Special - Ref CS448 .M5 1988 
Irish Passenger Lists 1847-1871 … Passengers Sailing from Londonderry to America. 

Special – Ref E184 I6 D63 1997   
Irish Emigrants in North America, Parts 1, 2 & 3 

Special – Ref E184 I6 D63 2000   
Irish Emigrants in North America, Part 4 and 5 

Special - Ref E184 .I6 F25 1983      
The Famine Immigrants: Lists of Irish Immigrants Arriving at the Port of New York, 1846-1851 

Special – Ref E184 I6 J64 1997       
Irish Emigration to New England through the port of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1841 – 1849

Special - Ref E184 .I6 S34          
Passengers from Ireland … Arriving at American Ports Between 1811 and 1817. 

Special – Ref F60 I6 M87 2000   
Irish Famine Immigrants in the state of Vermont: Gravestone Inscriptions 

Special – Ref JV7711 E37 1978    
Emigrants From Ireland, 1847 – 1852: State Aided Emigration Schemes from Crown Estates in Ireland

 

III. The Search for Missing Relatives 

Since many Irish families immigrated to the United States piecemeal (e.g. a father one year, a wife and children the next), it was a common for family members to lose track of one another.  When this occurred, "personal" notices frequently were placed in newspapers with a heavy Irish-American readership. These notices often link a name with a location both in Ireland and in the United States.

Special - Ref F73.9 .I6 S43 1989     
The Search for Missing Friends: Irish Immigrant Advertisements Placed in the Boston Pilot  (1831-1865) -- 5 vols.  

Special - Ref CS483 .D4 2001         
Irish Relatives and Friends: From Information Wanted Ads in the Irish-American, 1850 - 1871 

C. PERIODICAL ARTICLES

Genealogical periodicals often include both Irish and Irish-American references.  Listed below are two resources housed in the Department that include numerous citations of interest to Irish genealogists. You can determine whether or not a journal referenced in these indexes are held in the St. Thomas libraries by consulting the "Journal Title" section of the CLICnet : ( http://clicnet.clic.edu/search/ )
. 
Special - Ref CS42 .G467  
Genealogical Periodical Annual Index), 1976 – present 

Special – Ref DA990 .S6 1970  
Sources for the History of Irish Civilization: Articles in Irish Periodicals 9 vols.