The Western Family History Association will host a talk entitled ‘Church of Ireland Records and Family History Research’ at its next meeting, which will take place in the Claregalway Hotel on Wednesday November 14 at 8.15pm.
The speaker at next week’s event will be Rev Anthony Previte, Oughterard, retired Dean of the Archdiocese of Tuam.
Church records offer a wealth of information for those researching their family history. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Church of Ireland was the Established Church in Ireland and the largest of the Protestant Churches.
In compiling family history, people are confronted by an array of administrative and legal terminology to which they may not be accustomed. Some of the terms may be difficult to decipher; words such as glebe, impropriate, and at will. So points of clarification will be central to the discussion at the meeting.
Civil records were not formally commenced until 1864. Prior to 1864, church records, parish registers, and land surveys conducted for tax purposes are by far the most significant sources of information available for family history and genealogical research. These resources are used as substitutes for the volumes of census data lost in the Four Courts fires in 1922. However the quality and significance of the information in these historical documents will not be realised if the phraseology in the registers, some including Latin, is not understood or interpreted properly. New members are welcome. For more details email [email protected]
