Genealogical Society of Ireland journals and Waterford grand jury records join FindmyPast

Added to FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) this week:

Genealogical Society of Ireland: Journals

The Genealogical Society of Ireland, originally named the Dun Laoghaire Genealogical Society, was founded in 1990 and have been publishing these journals regularly since 1992. Within their pages, you can find articles covering a huge range of social history topics, including school lists, shipwrecks, military movements, murder cases, the genealogies of selected families and even the 1937 winners of the ever-important sultana cake and shortbread baking competition.

If you're searching for a particular ancestor, you'll be able to search by their full name, and you may just find a richly-detailed story about their life. On the other hand, it's the perfect collection to spend a few hours browsing. You can flip through it page by page, or head to 'Article title' on the advanced search page, which will allow you to scroll through the subjects of each article and pick the ones that catch your eye. You can also search by free text - for example, if you're looking for information regarding the Great Irish Famine, you can search 'Ireland famine' and find an array of relevant articles.

Though these journals were published throughout the 1990s onwards, the stories within them document events that occurred all the way through the 1800s to the mid 1900s, giving you a broad and bold scope of life in Ireland throughout multiple generations.


Waterford, Grand Jury Presentments 1808-1899 Image Browse

This Waterford collection contains Grand Jury query and account books, assize presentments and contract details throughout the 18th century.

The Grand Jury was the main arm of local government in the 18th century, with responsibility for:

• roads and bridges
• lunatic asylums
• county infirmaries and fever hospitals
• dispensaries
• courthouses
• gaols

The names found in these pages may have been maintenance workers, staff or suppliers, or may have paid a fee to the Grand Jury.

For further details and links visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/ireland-genealogical-journals

Chris 

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

People, Place and Power: The Grand Jury System in Ireland

I've just carried out three separate research jobs for a client which relied heavily on Irish land records, but the third in particular involved the use also of Grand Jury presentment and query books for County Louth, with many of the relevant query books available online from the Louth County Archives website at www.louthcoco.ie/en/services/archives/online-digital-archives/louth-grand-jury-query-books/. 

The books, produced from the late 18th century onwards, are a wonderful resource for the main arm of local administration in Ireland prior to 1899 (before they were replaced with County Councils, Rural Councils and District Councils), with published presentment books and query books from the late 18th century listing jurors, constables and sub-constables, as well as public works to be carried out in the county, and the costs involved. 

The Beyond 2022 project (https://beyond2022.ie) has now placed online a new book published by Trinity College Dublin entitled People, Place and Power: The Grand Jury System in Ireland, by Brian Gurrin, david Brown, Peter Crooks and Ciaran Wallace, which can be found at https://beyond2022.ie/the-grand-jury-system-in-ireland. The book is free to download.

The Grand Jury was in use in Ireland from Anglo-Norman times, although for many centuries it largely only had a judical function at assizes and quarter sessions. A lot of Grand Jury records have been destroyed, not least with many of them gathered into the Public Record Office, which was largely destroyed in the Irish Civil War in 1922. A lot of material has survived, however, in published form and at other repositories, and with some resources reproduced online (including for Donegal on FindmyPast).

Enjoy the book - and don't forget that my new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records will be coming out from Pen and Sword later this summer, and is already available for pre-order at Amazon on www.amazon.co.uk/Tracing-Irish-Ancestors-Through-Records/dp/1526780216 (NB: there may be a change to the cover!)! 

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.