Irish Land Commission's Keane Index cards now online

Something I only discovered tbis week is that the catalogue cards from the Keane Index from 1891-1909 are now available to view via the National Library of Ireland's catalogue at https://catalogue.nli.ie/Collection/vtls000923169?recordID=vtls000929125, thanks to the efforts of the library and the Irish Manuscript Commission.

The Keane Index provides the only current means to identify information held within the records of the Irish Land Commission, which the Irish Government has stubbornly locked away in a warehouse in Portlaoise, where they currently remain out of the reach of researchers. The Land Commission papers details the acquisition of lands by the general public from the landed gentry after the collapse of the landed estates system following An Gorta Mór from 1845-1851. Amongst the papers are deeds, wills, and other extraordinarily useful records for family history purposes. 

The Keane Index comprises of 36,000 cards, that leads to information about properties contained within 35 bound volumes, all at about 400 pages each. The index allows researchers to search by county, estate, or individual name.

You can read more about the partnership with the NLI and IMC at https://www.nli.ie/news-stories/stories/tracing-irelands-land-history-digitisation-keane-index.

And maybe, one day, when the Irish Government wakes up on this, we'll get to see the actual Land Commission records themselves (many for the north after Partition are already accessible at PRONI)... 

** For more on the Irish Land Commission, see my book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, available from Pen and Sword in the UK at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Ancestors-Through-Land-Records-Paperback/p/19283 and the USA via https://www.penandswordbooks.com/9781526780218/tracing-your-irish-ancestors-through-land-records/.

Chris

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Ancestry adds 1659 Irish census

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has added a database version of the 1659 Irish census, sometimes referred to as Pender's Census, following its publication by Séamus Pender in 1939:

Ireland Census, 1659
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/63257/

Collection in context
The images in this collection were taken from A Census Of Ireland, Circa 1659 with Supplementary Material From The Poll Money Ordinances (1660-1661) edited by Séamus Pender and published in 1939. The book is a secondary historical source that presents information taken from census records that are primary historical sources.

The 1659 Irish Census was directed by Sir William Petty as a side project to the Down Survey, which mapped all the baronies where land was forfeited following the English Commonwealth’s invasion of Ireland between 1649 and 1653. These lands were to be given as rewards to soldiers who fought for England. The census reflected the devastation of a war that led to the deaths of one fourth of Ireland’s population from famine and disease. Because the census was a side project of a larger endeavor, errors in both names and numbers were made during the information collection process. Petty kept the census records for his personal library, and the records were discovered among his family papers in the late 1800s.

For further details visit the link. 

Comment: The records are largely statistical in nature for the most part, providing the names of parishes and their townlands, a total of the number of people within that townland, how many of them were English and Scottish, and how many were Irish. The only names given are those of the 'titualadoes', the definition of which is given in the published volume as follows (Introduction, page v):

The term "Titulado", which appears throughout the returns, is best explained as referring to the principal person or persosn of standing in any particular locality; such a person could have been of either sex, a nobleman, baronet, gentleman, esquire, military officer or adventurer; that from other sources we learn of a particular Titulado, being also a landowner need not surprise us: the landowner is normally the person of standing in a district. Still, it miust not be forgotten that "Titulado" and "Landowner" are not necessarily synonymous terms.  

There are indexes of places and of persons named at the end of the book. The book itself can also be browsed, rather than searched.  

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Townlands and Irish Land Divisions - How to Use the Townland Atlas of Ulster presentation by Andrew Kane

The Ulster Historical Foundation () has uploaded a great lecture onto its YouTube channel from Andrew Kane, entitled Townlands and Irish Land Divisions - How to Use the Townland Atlas of Ulster, based on the recent book written by Andrew and published by the Foundation. The presentation is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb7BYuXZW8s, and also embedded below for your convenience.

The book, The Townland Atlas of Ulster, is available from the Foundation at https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/shop/products/townland-atlas, priced £69.99, and is thoroughly recommended.

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Ancestry adds Irish judicial rents collection 1882-1902

A new Irish collection from Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk): 

Ireland, Judicial Rents, 1882-1902
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/63259/
Source: Irish Land Commission. Returns According to Provinces and Counties of Judicial Rents. Belfast: His Majesty's Stationary Office.

General collection information

This collection is an index of information extracted from judicial rent lists filed in Ireland between 1882 and 1902. The index includes names of individuals involved in court proceedings pertaining to matters of fair rent practices, free sale of property, and permanent tenancy. Images of the original records are not included in the collection.

Records in this collection may include the following information:

• Name
• Relationship to head of household
• Rental date
• Record number
• District
• Townland
• County
• Province

The books published by the Irish Land Commission are high-quality primary historical sources. This index is a secondary source because it derives its information from the land commission books.

Ireland experienced protests and political pressure to reform land laws during the 1870s. The Land Law Act of 1881 was forged by this intense debate. The act created the Irish Land Commission and addressed fair rental charges, free sale of property, and permanent tenancy. The act gave tenants judicial rights to their rented land for 15 years, and this right was renewable every 15 years. The commission served as a regulatory body for fair rent by holding hearings with landowners and tenants to discuss rent charges and issue binding decisions. The act established a principle of dual ownership by landowners and tenants, and the terms of the joint ownership could be debated at a commission hearing.

About 75 percent of the tenants who were eligible according to the 1881 act brought their cases before the commission, which heard about 380,000 cases during the initial 15-year term. Overall, rents were reduced by about 20 percent as a result of these cases.

Further details in the full Ancestry description via the link above. 

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

ScotlandsPeople releases Napier Commission records

A major release from ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) for those with ancestors in the Highlands and Islands:

Find your ancestors in the Highlands and Islands

Extraordinary records of Victorian crofting life are available to search online for the first time. They offer exciting new clues for your family history search. 

The new records list over 16,000 crofters and cottars on Scotland’s estates across the Highlands and Islands. 

They were collected for the 1883 Napier Commission, a public inquiry set up to investigate crofters’ claims of unfair treatment by landlords. 

Following the Highland Clearances, the records reveal how people survived and maintained traditional ways of life tied to the land. 

Discover fascinating details such as household names, extent of land, rents and animals kept. The records also reveal how families made a living through seasonal work like weaving and gathering whelks.

As those who attended my recent talk on "Gaelic Scotland for Family Historians" will have heard, the Napier Commission, which started in 1883, was officially known as The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands), with the published returns freely accessible via www.uhi.ac.uk/en/research-enterprise/cultural/centre-for-history/research/resources/the-napier-commission/. 

The collection on ScotlandsPeople is oddly located under the Poor relief and migration records category (surely this needs to be renamed?!), and entitled Crofters and Cottars (Napier Commission). To view a record via the search box will cost 2 credits per return - although the records can also be browsed freely via the site's Virtual Volumes function. When using the search box, the More Info button will show brief details for a candidate, before you decide to purchase, to make sure you have the right person. 

There are three detailed collections available within the set:

• AF50/6: Returns by proprietors or factors of estates in the counties of Argyll, Caithness, Inverness, Ross and Cromarty, and Sutherland giving: rentals and areas of deer forest, farms, crofters' holdings, shootings, fishings and house property for the years 1853 and 1883. 
• AF50/7: Returns by proprietors or factors of estates in the county of Argyll respecting crofters and cottars. These include information such as the names of crofters/cottars, the number of families and dwellings, their rent, obligations in labour or service, the extent of holdings, arable, pasture and stock.  
• AF50/8: Returns by proprietors or factors of estates in the counties of Argyll, Caithness, Inverness, Ross and Cromarty, and Sutherland giving: names of cottars, whether they are resident on a croft or not, what their rent was and who it was paid to, and their occupation or other means of subsistence.   

A detailed guide on the records is available at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/help-and-support/guides/napier-commission. 

To search the records visit https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/search-records/poor_relief/napier_commission.

The significance of the Napier Commission to history is that three years later, in 1886, the first Crofting Act came into being, effectively ending the Highland Clearances (Na Fuadaichean) by giving tenants security of tenure. For the family historian, they provide detailed insights into ancestors, as well as another effective census substitute.

10/10 to ScotlandsPeople for this one - happy hunting! 

(With thanks to ScotlandsPeople via email) 

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Researching Irish Land Records course starts on November 10th

My next Researching Irish Land Records course, taught on behalf of Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd, starts on Monday 10th November 2025, and lasts for five weeks. Here are the details:

Researching Irish Land Records

The issue of land ownership was a potent question in Ireland for centuries. In the 17th century vast swathes of land was settled by Protestant British colonists during the Plantations of Ulster, drawn mostly from Scotland, whilst the subsequent Cromwellian conquest led to mass confiscation of land across Ireland, to be conveyed to English soldiers and 'adventurers'. The Penal Laws had soon dispossessed the native Irish Catholic population of many rights, including land ownership and inheritance rights. At the same time, the first national land valuation survey in the world was carried out, and an elaborate system of land administration imposed. In the 19th century, Ireland's incorporation into the United Kingdom was followed by great tragedy with the Famine, but in its aftermath a new opportunity arose following the Land War to radically alter rental provisions and then to redistribute land away from an absentee landlord class.

Following on from the Progressing Your Irish Research Online course*, this course will look at the various types of records that can help with land research in Ireland from the period of the 17th century to the present day. It will examine the various forms of land tenure that existed, the records of ownership and rental, the valuation and conveyance of property, maps, and many other resources. Importantly it will show how to find the most useful land records, and how to use them for your family history research.

* Although not compulsory, it is recommended that students will have first completed the Progressing Your Irish Research Online course.

Lesson Headings:

• The Basics of Irish Land Research
• Colonialism and Conquest
• Managing the Land
• Valuation and Conveyance
• The Land War and Redistribution

Relevant countries: Ireland

What to expect:

Each lesson includes lesson notes, activities and forum exercises for students to complete during the week and a one-hour live tutorial (text chat or Zoom) with the tutor and the rest of the class. Times for the tutorials are set at the beginning of each course by the tutor. 

Tutor: Chris Paton   
Length: 5 weeks   
Start date: Monday 10 November 2025
Cost: £70

Feedback from previous students:

“I really liked how each lesson showed why it's important to understand and use different types of records. It helped me see how one record leads to the next, making it easier to trace family history. Land records, in particular, can be tricky, but this course gave me a much better understanding of how and why they were made, which is key to interpreting them.”

“The content was excellent. The instructor provided good contextual information for the suggested links and readings. I learned about resources I might never have discovered easily.”

“I enjoyed learning about new approaches to Irish land record research that were either unknown or forgotten to me.”

“The course notes were amazing and Chris is a very knowledgeable tutor.”

To register, please visit https://www.pharostutors.com/researching-irish-land-records

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Irish land tenure and distillery records added to Ancestry

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has added the following two Irish collections to its site this week:

Ireland, Church of Ireland Land Tenure Index, 1878
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/63099/
Source: Irish Church Temporaliteis Commission. Report of the Commisioners of Church Temporalities in Ireland, for the Year 1878. Dublin: Alexander Thom, 1879.

About Ireland, Church of Ireland Land Tenure Index, 1878

This collection is an index of information derived from a government report on the sale of land by a commission overseeing the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland. The Report of the Commissioners of Church Temporalities in Ireland for the Year 1878 was an accounting of sales of church land made to people who had previously been tenants of the church and sales to members of the general public. The collection doesn’t include images of the original report.

Using this collection

Records in this collection may include the following information:

• Name
• Parish
• Diocese
• Barony
• County
• Sale date
• Property information

In addition to learning more about your ancestor’s financial status and their life experience, finding your ancestor in this collection can help your search for additional records. Knowing the date and place of your ancestor’s land purchase may give you a place to begin searching for other church or civic documents related to their life. It may also lead you to newspaper articles from that time and place that may provide information about your ancestor or the experience of others in that area.

NB: For further details on the Commissioners of Church Temporalities in Ireland, check out my book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records (see books tab, top of page)

Ireland, Midleton Distillery Barley Purchase Books, 1825-1834
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/63101/
Source:  Barley Purchase Books. Midleton, County Cork, Ireland.

About Ireland, Midleton Distillery Barley Purchase Books, 1825-1834

This collection contains records from the firm James Murphy & Co produced between 1825 and 1834 at the Midleton Distillery in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland. The collection has three volumes of ledgers that recorded purchases of barley from local farmers from the East Cork area. Barley is a primary ingredient in Irish whiskey.

Using this collection

Records in this collection may include the following information:

• Name
• Residence date

These records are a great resource to help you learn more about your ancestor’s work as a barley farmer. The original documents contain information that has not been indexed, exploring the record images in this collection you may learn the number of barrels your ancestor sold to the distillery on a given day, the weight of the barley, and the amount your ancestor was paid for the crop.

The records were created by employees of the firm James Murphy & Co working  at Midleton Distillery, Co. Cork  and the original documents are now held in the Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard Archive at Midleton.

Further details via the links.

Chris

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Ballynahinch, Galway, estate records added to Ancestry

Ancestry has added the following Irish collection:

Galway, Ireland, Ballynahinch Estate Records, 1905-1940 https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/63199/ 

Source: Galway, Ireland, Ballynahinch Estate Records, 1905-1940 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2025. 

About Galway, Ireland, Ballynahinch Estate Records, 1905-1940 

This collection contains records from the Ballynahinch Estate in Galway, Ireland. The collection has tenant records from 1905 to 1940 and visitor records from 1905 to 1970. Entries in the registers are handwritten and may be difficult to read. 

Using this collection 

Records in this collection may include the following information: 

• Name 
• Alias 
• Travel date 
• Place of residence 

These records may help you discover more about your ancestor’s life including where they lived and places they travelled. Some record images include specific addresses. If the record includes a place of residence, you have a place to start looking for other civil or church documents related to your ancestor.

Further details on the records available via the link.

Chris

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available - Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page

Ulster Historical Foundation launches A Sense of Place toolkit

From the Ulster Historical Foundation (https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com): 

We are delighted to announce the launch of a new section on our website: A Sense of Place, now available at ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/sense-of-place/home. 

This dedicated reference area has been created especially for family historians and researchers interested in discovering more about the localities where their ancestors once lived. 

A Sense of Place offers a growing collection of tools and materials, including: 

• Fully searchable indexes of the Ordnance Survey Memoirs, a valuable source for 19th-century Irish life and landscape 
• Digitised volumes of the Place Names of Northern Ireland series, available in full for browsing and reference 
• Additional guidance and resources to help place your family story in its historical and geographical context 

(With thanks to the Foundation via email) 

Chris

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available - Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

ScotlandsPlaces hosted tax rolls and OS Name Books to join ScotlandsPeople

ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has added an update to say that the Ordnance Survey Name Books, as well as the tax rolls currently hosted on ScotlandsPlaces (www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk), will be made available on the ScotlandsPeople website from June 25th, following the plug being pulled on ScotlandsPlaces on June 24th (see https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2025/05/plug-to-be-pulled-on-scotlandsplaces.html).

Unfortunately there will be some charges introduced:

Records can be searched and viewed free of charge. There will be a small charge to save copies. Additionally, we have created a new name index of male and female servant tax rolls, for which there will be a small charge to view records. 

Further additions to ScotlandsPeople's maps and plans section will follow later on this year, with content from ScotlandsPlaces.

The full announcement is available at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/news-and-articles/more-records-coming.

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Researching Irish Land Records course starts June 2nd

My next Researching Irish Land Records course, taught on behalf of Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd, starts on Monday 2nd June 2025, and lasts for five weeks. Here are the details:

Researching Irish Land Records

The issue of land ownership was a potent question in Ireland for centuries. In the 17th century vast swathes of land was settled by Protestant British colonists during the Plantations of Ulster, drawn mostly from Scotland, whilst the subsequent Cromwellian conquest led to mass confiscation of land across Ireland, to be conveyed to English soldiers and 'adventurers'. The Penal Laws had soon dispossessed the native Irish Catholic population of many rights, including land ownership and inheritance rights. At the same time, the first national land valuation survey in the world was carried out, and an elaborate system of land administration imposed. In the 19th century, Ireland's incorporation into the United Kingdom was followed by great tragedy with the Famine, but in its aftermath a new opportunity arose following the Land War to radically alter rental provisions and then to redistribute land away from an absentee landlord class.

Following on from the Progressing Your Irish Research Online course*, this course will look at the various types of records that can help with land research in Ireland from the period of the 17th century to the present day. It will examine the various forms of land tenure that existed, the records of ownership and rental, the valuation and conveyance of property, maps, and many other resources. Importantly it will show how to find the most useful land records, and how to use them for your family history research.

* Although not compulsory, it is recommended that students will have first completed the Progressing Your Irish Research Online course.

Lesson Headings:

• The Basics of Irish Land Research
• Colonialism and Conquest
• Managing the Land
• Valuation and Conveyance
• The Land War and Redistribution

Relevant countries: Ireland

What to expect:

Each lesson includes lesson notes, activities and forum exercises for students to complete during the week and a one-hour live tutorial (text chat or Zoom) with the tutor and the rest of the class. Times for the tutorials are set at the beginning of each course by the tutor. 

Tutor: Chris Paton   
Length: 5 weeks   
Start date: Monday 2 June 2025
Cost: £70

Feedback from previous students:

“I really liked how each lesson showed why it's important to understand and use different types of records. It helped me see how one record leads to the next, making it easier to trace family history. Land records, in particular, can be tricky, but this course gave me a much better understanding of how and why they were made, which is key to interpreting them.”

“The content was excellent. The instructor provided good contextual information for the suggested links and readings. I learned about resources I might never have discovered easily.”

“I enjoyed learning about new approaches to Irish land record research that were either unknown or forgotten to me.”

“The course notes were amazing and Chris is a very knowledgeable tutor.”

To register, please visit https://www.pharostutors.com/researching-irish-land-records

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

 

Scottish Baronial Families 1250-1750, by David Dobson - review

The Genealogical Publishing Company has kindly sent me a copy of David Dobson's new book, Scottish Baronial Families 1250-1750, for review.

Under Scotland's old feudal system, baronies were erected as administrative areas in Scotland, with their chief overseers, the barons, being the Scottish equivalent of the English 'lord of the manor'. Barons were not a peerage rank, with a baron only being a baron so long as he retained the barony to which he had been granted a right to oversee - or to be more accurate, so long as he retained the 'caput' of the barony, where the barony courts were held. As a feudal possession. baronies were heritable, and could thus be passed down to an heir. The role of baronies and their barons diminished following the passing of the Heritable Jurisditions Act of 1747.

David's book provides a concise introduction to the topic, summarising the role of the barons in Scottish society, and identifying the limited number of baronies for which records have been published. There then follows the main event, an alphabetical listing of over a thousand baronial familes known to exist over a 500 year period from 1250-1750. The main source used by David is The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, and in the introduction he notes that for more concise information on the families themselves, Margaret Stuart's Scottish Family History (1979, GPC, Baltimore) should be consulted. 

The book does not act as a manorial documents register, as found down south, it identifies the individuals known to have held baronies, and when they were granted the right to do so, with no further source citations noted in most cases, apart from a very general bibliography noted in the introduction. This means that if you wish to chase records for those noted, many of which are in private hands, there will still be some work to do for the reader. In addition, an index of barony placenames might have been a useful addition, which is unfortunately missing. 

Nevertheless, this is still a very useful guide to those known to have held baronies in Scotland, a much under-used source for local records. An appendix at the end also identifies some Scots-Irish baronets, not to be confused with barons, these being created for entiriely different purposes from 1611 as a means to fund the Plantations of Ulster and the settlement of Nova Scotia.  

Scottish Baronial Families 1250-1750, by David Dobson, is available to buy from the Genealogical Publishing Company in Baltimore Maryland, USA, priced at US $35. For further details visit https://genealogical.com/store/scottish-baronial-families-1250-1750/.

(With thanks to the GPC for the review copy)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Scottish and Irish Pharos Tutors genealogy courses in October

I will be teaching two courses for Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd (www.pharostutors.com) this October:

Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers
5 weeks, starts Monday 7th October

This is an intermediate level course in Scottish family history for those who are going back beyond 1850. You should have some experience with research in the Old Parish Registers (OPRs) of the Church of Scotland and in using major websites for Scottish research.

This course discusses sources that fill the gap when the OPRs are uninformative or missing, such as the kirk session and presbytery courts records generated by the Kirk (Church of Scotland), as well as the records of dissenting and seceding Presbyterian congregations. From the forerunners of Scotlands modern towns and cities are the administrative records of the burghs, and the trades incorporations and merchant guilds, as well as other professions, which can enhance our understanding of our ancestors lives. And in the final two lessons the course turns up a notch and tackles two areas where the Scottish records, as generated through the feudal system, are truly unique, namely the various registers of land records known as sasines, and the separate legal processes in Scotland for the inheritance of both moveable and heritable estate.

Whilst some of the records discussed in the course are available online, many are available only in the archives, or in private hands, and a strong focus of this course will be in how to successfully employ the relevant catalogues and finding aids to locate such treasures. 

For further details visit https://www.pharostutors.com/scotland-1750-1850-beyond-the-old-parish-registers


***NEW COURSE*** 

Researching Irish Land Records
5 weeks, starts Monday 21st October

The issue of land ownership was a potent question in Ireland for centuries. In the 17th century vast swathes of land was settled by Protestant British colonists during the Plantations of Ulster, drawn mostly from Scotland, whilst the subsequent Cromwellian conquest led to mass confiscation of land across Ireland, to be conveyed to English soldiers and 'adventurers'. The Penal Laws had soon dispossessed the native Irish Catholic population of many rights, including landownership and inheritance rights. At the same time, the first national land valuation survey in the world was carried out, and an elaborate system of land administration imposed. In the 19th century, Ireland's incorporation into the United Kingdom was followed by great tragedy with the Famine, but in its aftermath a new opportunity arose following the Land War to radically alter rental provisions and then to redistribute land away from an absentee landlord class.

Following on from the Progressing Your Irish Research Online* course, this brand new course will look at the various types of records that can help with land research in Ireland from the period of the 17th century to the present day. It will examine the various forms of land tenure that existed, the records of ownership and rental, the valuation and conveyance of property, maps, and many other resources. Importantly it will show how to find the most useful land records, and how to use them for your family history research.

* Although not compulsory, it is recommended that students will have first completed the Progressing Your Irish Research Online course.

For further details visit https://www.pharostutors.com/researching-irish-land-records

I hope to maybe see you there!

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Scottish Indexes expands sasines index coverage

Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.com) has expanded its land records collection with additional indexes to the sasines registers. The site now offers the following indexes:

• General Register of Sasines covering all counties from 1 January 1777 to 31 December 1779.
• Particular Register of Sasines for the counties of Stirling, Clackmannan and the Stewartry of Menteith (part of Perthshire) covering from 30 November 1726 to 27 December 1734.
• Particular Register of Sasines for the counties of Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles covering from 14 February 1622 to 16 March 1622 and the year 1780, as well as entries from the General Register for the same counties in 1780. 

For access to the indexes visit https://www.scottishindexes.com/sasinesearch.aspx. For more on the records visit https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningsasines.aspx.

Chris 

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

New Pharos course - Researching Irish Land Records

I'm delighted to announce that a second Irish themed course that I have written will be taught via Pharos Tutors (www.pharostutors.com) from October 21st - here are the details!

Researching Irish Land Records

The issue of land ownership was a potent question in Ireland for centuries. In the 17th century vast swathes of land was settled by Protestant British colonists during the Plantations of Ulster, drawn mostly from Scotland, whilst the subsequent Cromwellian conquest led to mass confiscation of land across Ireland, to be conveyed to English soldiers and 'adventurers'. The Penal Laws had soon dispossessed the native Irish Catholic population of many rights, including land ownership and inheritance rights. At the same time, the first national land valuation survey in the world was carried out, and an elaborate system of land administration imposed. In the 19th century, Ireland's incorporation into the United Kingdom was followed by great tragedy with the Famine, but in its aftermath a new opportunity arose following the Land War to radically alter rental provisions and then to redistribute land away from an absentee landlord class.

Following on from the Progressing Your Irish Research Online course*, this course will look at the various types of records that can help with land research in Ireland from the period of the 17th century to the present day. It will examine the various forms of land tenure that existed, the records of ownership and rental, the valuation and conveyance of property, maps, and many other resources. Importantly it will show how to find the most useful land records, and how to use them for your family history research.

* Although not compulsory, it is recommended that students will have first completed the Progressing Your Irish Research Online course.

Lesson Headings:

• The Basics of Irish Land Research
• Colonialism and Conquest
• Managing the Land
• Valuation and Conveyance
• The Land War and Redistribution

Relevant countries: Ireland

What to expect:

Each lesson includes lesson notes, activities and forum exercises for students to complete during the week and a one-hour live tutorial (text chat or Zoom) with the tutor and the rest of the class. Times for the tutorials are set at the beginning of each course by the tutor. 

Tutor: Chris Paton   
Length: 5 weeks   
Start date: Mon 21 Oct 2024
Cost: £58

To register, please visit https://www.pharostutors.com/researching-irish-land-records

Comment: This will be the fifth course that I teach through Pharos, and the third that I have written, and I am looking forward to getting stuck in! Athouygh not compulsory, it is recommended that students will have first done my Progressing Your Irish Research Online course prior to this new course - it starts up again on August 19th, and you can find more on this at https://www.pharostutors.com/progressing-your-irish-research-online.

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers Course starts April 8th

The next 5 week long Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers family history course from Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd (www.pharostutors.com) commences in just two weeks time on April 8th 2024.

The following short video introduces the course:

 

(Also available at https://youtu.be/1aGSA-mEiQY)

And the following is the course description, and how to sign up if interested!

Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers

This is an intermediate level course in Scottish family history for those who are going back beyond 1850. You should have some experience with research in the Old Parish Registers (OPRs) of the Church of Scotland and in using major websites for Scottish research.

This course discusses sources that fill the gap when the OPRs are uninformative or missing, such as the kirk session and presbytery courts records generated by the Kirk (Church of Scotland), as well as the records of dissenting and seceding Presbyterian congregations. From the forerunners of Scotlands modern towns and cities are the administrative records of the burghs, and the trades incorporations and merchant guilds, as well as other professions, which can enhance our understanding of our ancestors lives. And in the final two lessons the course turns up a notch and tackles two areas where the Scottish records, as generated through the feudal system, are truly unique, namely the various registers of land records known as sasines, and the separate legal processes in Scotland for the inheritance of both moveable and heritable estate.

Whilst some of the records discussed in the course are available online, many are available only in the archives, or in private hands, and a strong focus of this course will be in how to successfully employ the relevant catalogues and finding aids to locate such treasures.

Whilst not compulsory, it is strongly recommended that you complete the Pharos course Scottish Research Online before studying Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers, as it will be assumed that you are already familiar with the more basic resources available online for Scottish ancestral research.

Lesson Headings:

    * Kirk Sessions records and parish poor
    * Burgh records and town poor
    * Occupations, taxation and early lists
    * Land transfer and the value of sasines
    * Land, inheritance and estates
 

Each lesson includes exercises and activities; a minimum of 1 one-hour chat session per week. (See How the Courses Work at https://www.pharostutors.com/howcourseswork.php.)

Relevant Countries: Scotland
Course Length: 5 Weeks
Start Date: 8 April 2024
Cost: £58

Student feedback:

"The exercises helped you to explore new lesson concepts right away. Especially by directing students to apply new research aids to their own work."

"Very clear explanations of terminology and legal processes Really helpful exercises and comprenesive list of useful catalogues and other references Chat sessions very helpful and engaging."

"This being the second genealogy course I have taken, and the second with Pharos, I found these were detailed foundation courses which will permit me to search better and with less effort in my future research work."

"Great subject-matter and excellent tutor/written materials. It could not have been better."

For further details, and to sign up, please visit https://www.pharostutors.com/scotland-1750-1850-beyond-the-old-parish-registers.

I'll hopefully see you online there!

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

FindmyPast adds Irish Land Commission loan records 1891-1920

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has added the following major Irish record set:

Ireland, Land Commission Advances, 1891-1920

Next up we have another brand new record set, Irish Land Commissions which includes 741,255 records.

Covering 1891 to 1920, these records contain details of tenants who were able to buy the farm they occupied from their landlord and will contain the names of both parties, as well as where the farm was and how much was paid. 

The collection is accessible at https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/ireland-land-commission-advances-1891-1920. 

The dataset documents loans advanced to tenants under the Irish land purchase acts, as published by HMSO in its Returns of Advances Under the Irish Land Purchase Acts. Whilst it covers the whole of Ireland, this will be particularly useful for those researching in the Republic, where the actual land commission records are not available to the public (unlike those for Northern Ireland, long story!), nor the Cancelled Land Books online, the follow on from Griffith's Valuation (although these are currently being digitised, and will be made available online in due course). Although the same books for this period for Northern Ireland are available online (as PRONI's Valuation Revision Books collection), these records are still useful to show the amounts loaned to Ulster-based tenants also.

The following is an example of a loan made to folk in the townland of Ballymartin in County Antrim, including likely extended family members from my family on the Bill and Coulter lines:

And the record for my wife's great great grandmother Margaret Murray in Tibberaghny (Tybroughney) townland in Co. Kilkenny, showing a loan granted to her of £180 for her farm of some 129 acres:

You can find out more on records concerned with the Irish Land Commission in my book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, available from Pen and Sword in the UK at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Ancestors-Through-Land-Records-Paperback/p/19283, and from the USA at https://www.penandswordbooks.com/9781526780218/tracing-your-irish-ancestors-through-land-records/.

(Source: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/womens-land-army-irish-land-commissions)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Highland Council to scour historic records to find land it owns

Highland Council is scouring historic records such as the General Register of Sasines, as well as records of former burghs and county and district councils, to try to work out what land it actually owns - with a view to then flogging some of it off to plug a budget shortfall.

I hope that any lands that are actually part of the Common Good funds from former burghs are preserved, there being a legal obligation that such property "be observed and kept for the common good of the town" (Common Good Act, 1491). There's been a legal requirement since 2015 for local authorities to keep a register of lands that have been previously earmarked for the common good.

For more on the story visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cglpvn30dzno

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

University of Galway's Landed Estates database expands into Ulster

Some great news courtesy of Claire Santry's Irish Genealogy News - the University of Galway's Landed Estates database at https://landedestates.ie, which previously covered the provinces of Connacht and Munster, from 1700-1914, has now expanded its coverage to include three of Ulster's counties - Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan, the three counties within the province that are today within the Republic of Ireland (the other six now constituting Northern Ireland).

I have ancestry in all three counties, so am looking forward to exploring this in more depth! As Claire advises, access to the information is best gained via the interactive maps. Each of the pins is for the various baronies in a county - clicking on a pin leads to information on the main houses of the landed gentry within each. 

Whether Northern Ireland ever becomes included to complete the province is unknown, but one thing is for certain - Leinster is looking very lonely on this map just now. Fingers crossed that it gets a look-in also! 

For more on Irish land records, don't forget my book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is available from Pen and Sword in the UK at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Ancestors-Through-Land-Records-Paperback/p/19283 and in the USA via https://www.penandswordbooks.com/9781526780218/tracing-your-irish-ancestors-through-land-records/.

(With thanks to Claire at https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2023/07/landedestatesie-database-expands-into.html)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Monaghan 1679-1810 leases added to RootsIreland

From RootsIreland (www.rootsireland.ie):

New Lease Abstracts for the Manor and Lordship of Monaghan
(1679-1810) added to Roots Ireland!

We are delighted to announce the addition of 579 Lease Abstracts for the Manor and Lordship of Monaghan (1679-1810) to the Roots Ireland database! These leases not only name the people who have agreed the lease, but also often mention other people and their properties in the leases and as such are a very useful census substitute for Monaghan.

For an up to date list of sources for Monaghan and to search these records, go to monaghan.rootsireland.ie and login or subscribe as required.

Yours Sincerely
rootsireland.ie 

Don't forget that you can find out more about Irish land records from my book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, available in the UK via https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Ancestors-Through-Land-Records-Paperback/p/19283 (currently on special offer at £10.49 +p&p), and in the USA from https://www.penandswordbooks.com/9781526780218/tracing-your-irish-ancestors-through-land-records/. 

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. For the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.