Реферат: Irish Roots
Irish Roots
If a person is ofIrish descent and wishes to trace his ancestors, it can be a lot of fun, andquite often it ends in success — although the odds are very much againstfinding all there is to know in many cases! In the first place, it is handy toknow lrom which of the Thirty-Two Counties the ancestors came, bearing in mindthat Queen's County is now called County Laoais; King's County, County Offaly;Queenstown is now Cobh, and Kingstown, Dun Laoghaire — to name but a few. Thecounty of origin on both parental sides should ideally be established, alongwith the correct spelling of the surname, since often an «0» or a«Mac» becomes lost on emigration. Christian names are helpful, as thecustom has largely been to pass down a fathers christian name to his son. Withthe surname, christian name and county of origin, it is useful to glean fromfamily folklore, word of mouth, old letters, old deeds, or inscriptions in oldbooks, from what parish or town the ancestors came. If a family can remember aparish or a townland, then half the quest is over. It is helpful to know if therelations were farmers, shopkeepers or professional people; and their religion,be it Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian or Quaker, as each has its ownrecords. The most difficult tracings are, of course, from the mass emigrationof the famine years from 1845 onwards. But it is still possible to do a tracein many cases. In Ireland, the registration of births, marriages and deathsbegan in 1864, and records are kept at the offices of the Registrar-General atthe Custom House in Dublin. Non-Catholic marriages are recorded here from 1845.The Public Record Office in the Four Courts, Dublin, holds many tithe paymentrecords, and all manner of records relating to wills. The Registry of Deedsoffice, Henrietta Street, Dublin, has property information dating from the1700s.
The National Libraryin Kildare Street, Dublin, has one of the best-informed, most patient anddiligent library staffs in the whoie ancestor-tracing world. Here aredirectories, antiquarian journals, family histories, and vast collections ofnational and local newspapers in which to delve.
If the ancestor was ofthe Catholic faith, then once a parish or a townland of origin has beenestablished, a visit can be paid to the parochial registers of the localCatholic parish church in Ireland, where most parish priests are ofconsiderable help, understanding and patience in the game of «roots.» In the «Twenty-Six» counties there are, alas, considerablegaps in many public records, as in the turbulent days of the fight for freedom,and in the subsequent Civil War, hundreds of thousands of public records wereblown sky-high, or burnt to the ground. In the «Six Counties»however, the Public Record Office in Belfast has excellent records,particularly of tithes and their payments.
Tombstone hunting hasits place in ancestor tracing, but the mass of unmarked graves of faminevictims, or families frequently too poor to erect inscribed stones, ratherlimits this field of interest. The ancestors would need to have been wealthyindeed to have had family tombs!
Despite thedifficulties which can be encountered, it is still well worth the attempt totrace ones ancestors, even though that attempted trace may be unsuccessful,since in the process something will be learned of the time and place of leavingthe original homestead, and this helps to illuminate the history of thedispersal of a restless people all over the known world.