This week I am going to start some research topics. I believe the most basic to understand, when starting Irish genealogy, is the land/administration divisions of Ireland, since many of the Ireland genealogical records are arranged by the various divisions, such as civil parish, religious parish, barony, etc. Therefore when one finds the townland where their ancestor is from, if they want to search for records, you will need to know what administrative divisions the townland was located. The sources I used for this topic include: Irish Records, by James Ryan A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland, by Brian Mitchell Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, by John Grenham Discovering Your Irish Ancestors by Radford & Betit various online sources Province · four in number, Connaught, Leinster, Munster, Ulster County · 32 in number, including Northern Ireland · Laois, also known as Leix, was once Queen's County and Offaly was once King's County, Derry also know as Londonderry · Cork-largest, Louth-smallest · counties were created after the Norman conquest (12th century) and took several hundred years to complete (last, Wicklow was created in 1606) · each county divided into civil parishes Barony · there are between 273(Ryan) and 331(Mitchell), also created by Norman conquest, comprised of several civil parishes and parts of civil parishes, they can cross county boundaries · from the 16th century they were used as an administrative division commonly encountered in the Tithe Applotments and Griffith's Primary Valuation · each county averages between 7 and 10, Cork-20, Louth-5 Poor Law Union · 130 were created by the Irish Poor Law Act in 1838 to collect taxes to take care of local poor · a workhouse was erected in a central town in each union · unions were assembled usually from townlands within a ten mile radius, by 1850, 163 unions had been created, boundaries can cross county lines · the unions' boundaries became the General Registrar's Districts, the areas where births, deaths and marriages were compiled (civil registration) District Electoral Division · a sub-division of the poor law union · each division elected a member of the Board of Guardians · made up of a small group of townlands · DEDs formed the basis for the administering the 1901 & 1911 censuses and are also used in arranging Griffith's Valuation revision books -- Pat Connors, Sacramento CA http://www.connorsgenealogy.com All outgoing mail virus free, scanned by ZoneAlarm AntiVirus

Thanks so much for this Pat. I get really confused by this. I ordered a film form LDS for Monaghan, Clones thinking that this was one and now find out that it is Fermanagh? With your help I will probably get it straight in my head. I have just recently started researching my Irish roots in Irelnad. I have quite a bit on them in Canada, but am now trying to connect two DEARING families. One appears to be from Armagh and the other from Monaghan/Fermanagh.? Dawn in Canada Family Research: SMYTH, SPENCER, SPARKHALL, CUBITT, BOWER, WORTS, DEARING, GLEESON, LANDRY/LONDRY, WILLIS, HUMPHREY, HENLEY/HENERBY - married in: Brown & Browne, Barnham, Shepherd, More, Randle, Wright, McArthur, Bloomer, Tustian, Doan, Burnette, Stillwell, Luck, Huckle, Nelson, Foreman, Sherk, Near, Clark, Fligg, Gould, Sparling and many more!! -----Original Message----- From: ConnorsGenealogy [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: January 9, 2005 1:22 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Topic #1, Land/Adminstration Divisions of Ireland, part 1 This week I am going to start some research topics. I believe the most basic to understand, when starting Irish genealogy, is the land/administration divisions of Ireland, since many of the Ireland genealogical records are arranged by the various divisions, such as civil parish, religious parish, barony, etc. Therefore when one finds the townland where their ancestor is from, if they want to search for records, you will need to know what administrative divisions the townland was located. The sources I used for this topic include: Irish Records, by James Ryan A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland, by Brian Mitchell Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, by John Grenham Discovering Your Irish Ancestors by Radford & Betit various online sources Province · four in number, Connaught, Leinster, Munster, Ulster County · 32 in number, including Northern Ireland · Laois, also known as Leix, was once Queen's County and Offaly was once King's County, Derry also know as Londonderry · Cork-largest, Louth-smallest · counties were created after the Norman conquest (12th century) and took several hundred years to complete (last, Wicklow was created in 1606) · each county divided into civil parishes Barony · there are between 273(Ryan) and 331(Mitchell), also created by Norman conquest, comprised of several civil parishes and parts of civil parishes, they can cross county boundaries · from the 16th century they were used as an administrative division commonly encountered in the Tithe Applotments and Griffith's Primary Valuation · each county averages between 7 and 10, Cork-20, Louth-5 Poor Law Union · 130 were created by the Irish Poor Law Act in 1838 to collect taxes to take care of local poor · a workhouse was erected in a central town in each union · unions were assembled usually from townlands within a ten mile radius, by 1850, 163 unions had been created, boundaries can cross county lines · the unions' boundaries became the General Registrar's Districts, the areas where births, deaths and marriages were compiled (civil registration) District Electoral Division · a sub-division of the poor law union · each division elected a member of the Board of Guardians · made up of a small group of townlands · DEDs formed the basis for the administering the 1901 & 1911 censuses and are also used in arranging Griffith's Valuation revision books -- Pat Connors, Sacramento CA http://www.connorsgenealogy.com All outgoing mail virus free, scanned by ZoneAlarm AntiVirus ______________________________