Ancestry adds new Irish based paupers database

Ancestry has added the following dataset:

Ireland, Paupers in Workhouses Who Were Born in England, Wales, or Scotland, 1863
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62994/
Source: Paupers (Ireland). Return of Names and Ages of Paupers in Workhouses in Ireland, on the 25th day of March 1863, who were born in England, Wales or Scotland. Dublin, Ireland: Poor Law Commission Office, 1863.

General collection information

This collection is an index of information from a book titled: Return of Names and Ages of all Paupers in the Workhouses in Ireland, on the 25th day of March 1863, who were born in England, Wales or Scotland.

Records in this collection may include the following information:

• Name
• Age
• Birthplace
• Name of poor law union

The information in this collection can be used to learn more about your ancestor and their life in a pauper workhouse. Knowing your ancestor's birthplace and the union where they lived in a workhouse may lead to other documents from that geographic area, such as church records of births, marriages, and deaths. Although the index may feature multiple people with the same last name in a particular section, the records do not say whether they are related. Ireland parish records, birth and death certificates, and census records can help you determine relations.

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.

Ancestry adds Scottish Indexes poor registers records indexes

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has added the following third party web index:

Web: Scotland, Select Poor Register Indexes, 1845-1930
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/63082/
Source: Scotland, Select Poor Register Indexes, 1845-1930. Scottish Indexes. https://www.scottishindexes.com/ Accessed: Mar 2024.

There is no description for the collection, but you can find this on the Scottish Indexes websites at https://www.scottishindexes.com/coveragepoor.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.

Inverness and Fermanagh records added to FindmyPast

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has added two collections very relevant to my own personal research this week - parish records for Magheraculmoney in Fermanagh, Ireland, and poor law records indexes from Inverness:

Fermanagh Parish Records

This week, we added 15,629 parish register records from the parish of Magheraculmoney in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Fermanagh is a Northern Irish county located within the province of Ulster - it borders Tyrone, Monaghan, Cavan, Leitrim, and Donegal.

These records are updates to existing baptism, marriage, and burial sets, and the addition of an entirely new set of congregational records from Fermanagh.


Scotland, Poor Law & Poor Lists, Inverness

We've added 2,554 records from Inverness to the Scotland, Poor Law & Poor Lists collection this week.

These records are incredibly detailed, with all sorts of information about your ancestors included.

Alongside the usual name and birth year, you may be lucky enough to find details on their religious denomination, the names and ages of any spouses or children, their mother's maiden name, a brief history of the previous assistance they've received, and more.

COMMENT: I have ancestors both from Magheraculmoney (Morrow, Mitchell) and Inverness (Fraser, MacGillivray, MacFarlane), so look forward to exploring these later.

Further details, and links, at https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/fermanagh-parish-poor-law-inverness.

Incidentally, in the Inverness record set, there's a note in FMP's description stating "They take the form of minutes taken by Guardians during poor law and relief hearings.". No, they don't. Scotland didn't have Boards of Guardians...! (We had parochial boards answerable to a Board of Supervision in Edinburgh, with Inspectors of the Poor doing the localised investigations in each parish or combination parish). I've raised this with FindmyPast and they are going to update it.

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.

Kyle Combination poorhouse renovations in Ayr

On Monday I travelled down to nearby Ayr on behalf of a client to look at a gravestone. Whilst there, I took the opportunity to take some photos of the old Kyle Combination Poorhouse, located on Holmston Road. I spoke with the foreman of the renovations work there who advised me that the old poorhouse is being converted into accommodation, and that much of the interior had been destroyed by long term squatters. many of the outbuildings have already been fixed up, the main building is currently being worked on (there is more on the renovation work at https://www.ayradvertiser.com/news/18091888.hope-brand-new-homes-historic-holmston-house-ayr/). 

Some images of the old poorhouse, which was built between 1857-1860:

For more on the poorhouse, visit Peter Higginbotham's website at https://www.workhouses.org.uk/Kyle/. 

The poorhouse's surviving records are held at the new Ayrshire Archives (www.ayrshirearchives.org.uk) facility in Ayr, which I also visited and photographed:

 

Remember, if you need any look-ups, I am based just up the road in Ayrshire - details of my service are available at www.scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk!

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.