Hello Joan. I have nothing specific at all to your families. However this reply is to send you some good research tips which were posted a couple of years back on the rootsweb Fermanagh-Gold list, by one of its members named Sean Rooney. I hope that you will find his summary to be helpful. Regards: Ray in oz. For people who are just starting out on the quest to trace thier roots, I have listed below the most helpful of the records that are out there to help you in your search. good luck ! 2. Civil Registration of Births, Marriages & Deaths Source: General Register Office, Dublin. Search: Marriages 1864 It became compulsory to register Catholic births, marriages and deaths from 1864. Non-Catholic marriages are registered from 1845 onwards. It has been estimated that about 15% of Irish births, marriages and deaths went unregistered in the early years of Civil Registration and a small percentage of births still went unregistered as late as 1900. As marriages often entailed monetary transactions and new land arrangements these were much more likely to be registered, even in the earliest years of registration. 3. Ordnance Survey of Ireland Name Books Clones, Counties Fermanagh & Monaghan The Ordnance Survey of Ireland, conducted between 1824 and 1846, is the only survey of Ireland to have ever been conclusively finished. Under the direction of Thomas Larcom, the Master-General of the Ordnance Survey and the Board of Ordnance, a complete Map of Ireland at the scale of six-inches to one-mile was published. One of the most important functions of the Ordnance Survey was to name the geographical features, prominent buildings and landmarks of each townland so that these could be included on the Ordnance Survey Maps when they were eventually published. This task was given-over to a number of Topographical, or Names Experts. Most of these experts were bilingual Irishmen, quite a few of whom had been Irish Hedge Schoolteachers. The 'Topographical' information was collected in a series of books, one for each of the parishes of Ireland. These books are known as the Ordnance Survey Name Books. Information for each townland was collected and written into the Name Book under five headings: the 'received name', the name finally adopted for the townland and the one placed onto the 6-inch Ordnance Survey Map in 1837. The Name Book also provided the Irish form of the name and in many instances what the Irish form of the townlands' names meant. This was the last stage of the 'Topographical' process. John O'Donovan, the translator of the Annals of the Four Masters, an Irish-speaking scholar and scribe, was the Ordnance Survey's overall Names Expert. It was O'Donovan's responsibility to enter all the Irish versions of names into the Name Books, in addition to the English spelling recommended for the published maps. The 'Orthography', section of the Names Books provides the various spellings for each townland or place and the 'authority section' gives the source from which these variations were derived. This was a controversial part of the Survey, especially in the Irish-speaking areas of Ireland. Thomas Larcom, the head of the Ordnance Survey, and his names expert, John O'Donovan, had a clear policy when it came to the variant spellings and meanings of Irish place-names, which was to adopt 'the version which came closest to the original Irish form of the name'. This showed 'a well-intentioned deference to the Irishness of Irish place-names'. This remained the 'Official Policy' of the Ordnance Survey from the 1830 onwards. For the names of demesnes and houses, the only authority sought was that of the owner of the property. 4. Primary Valuation of Ireland The purpose of the survey, conducted under the direction of Richard Griffith, was to assess the amount of tax every head of household should contribute towards the support of the poor and destitute in their parish. The Primary Valuation was completed and published between 1848 and 1864. Dublin City and County were the first areas of Ireland to have their valuation completed. The Primary Valuation of Ireland recorded the townland address, the name of each occupier, the names of the immediate lessor (the landlord's name), a brief description of the landholding, the number of acres of land in each holding, the value of buildings and land for taxation purposes, together with the overall valuation of each holding. Due to the loss of the majority of Ireland's pre-1901 Census Returns, the Primary Valuation of Ireland, commonly known as 'Griffith's Valuation', has assumed an importance far beyond that originally intended. 5. Primary Valuation of Ireland Cancelled Books Source: Valuation Office, Dublin. The Valuation Office's Cancelled Books are a continuation of Primary Valuation of Ireland. These are hand-written books which detail the changes that have taken place in land occupation and ownership since the Primary Valuation was conducted and completed. These books run concurrently from 1850s until the 1970s when it ceased to be compulsory for local authorities to centrally register landholders for rateable purposes. 6. 1901 Censuses of Ireland Source: NAI., 16/14. . Source: NAI., 18/37. The 1901 Census recorded the following information: Name, Relationship to the Head of Household, Religion, Literacy, Occupation, Age, Marital Status, County of Birth, Ability to Speak English or Irish. In addition to this information the 1901 Census also recorded details of houses (the number of walls, type of roof - whether slate or thatch, the number of windows etc.), the number of outhouses and the name of the immediate lessor (the person who owned the property). The same information was collected in the Census of 1911. One additional and very important question was added in 1911, this was directed specifically at married women who were asked to record the number of years they had been married, the number of children that they had given birth to alive and the number of these children that were still alive. The 1901 and 1911 Censuses of Ireland are the countries only complete surviving population Censuses. Population Censuses date from 1821 in Ireland. However, the majority of the pre-1901 Census Returns have been destroyed, either on purpose by the Government, or in the infamous 1922 Four Courts Fire. 7. Tithe Applotment Assessment Books Civil Parish of Clones, Source: NAI., The Composition Act of 1823 specified that Tithes (a form of tax) due to the Established Church, the Church of Ireland, which had hitherto been payable in kind, should now be paid in money. As a result it was necessary to carry out a valuation of the entire county to determine the sum to be paid by each landholder. This was done over the ensuing 15 years, up to the abolition of the tithes in 1838. It is hardly surprisingly that those who were not members of the Church of Ireland fiercely resented the payment of tithes. The Assessment was not applicable to town or city dwellers, or on certain types of land, e.g. tillage in some diocese. This meant that the burden of tithe payments was not distributed evenly, adding to the general resentment felt by the majority of Ireland's population. The information recorded in the Tithe Applotment Books is quite basic. Typically they record the name of the townland, the landholder's name, the area of land in acres, the amount of tithes payable and in some cases the name of the landlord. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joan" <acadianjoan@yahoo.com> ... I am new to this group and to Irish Genealogy. Any guidance you can give me will be appreciated. ...