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Central Library
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Letterkenny
County Donegal

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Finding Aids For Family History Research in County Donegal
3^rd edition
Updated January 2006

CONTENTS (click on links to go to particular pages within this document)

PART A - SOURCES IN CENTRAL LIBRARY

A 1 Census Records and Substitutes For C17, C18 and C19

A 2 Land Records

Part A: Sources in Central Library

Your chances of success in tracing ancestors will greatly depend on the amount of information you have to begin with. It is advisable to talk to as many older members of your family as you can to glean what information they have, even if they themselves might not regard what they know as very much. You should also check any documentation, including family Bibles and old family letters, which may contain relevant information. Every snippet of information can be checked against the sources later, although in many cases family lore may take you back further than the sources listed below.

If you live outside Ireland it is wise to consult, as well as family lore, all records that might have a reference to the ancestor(s) in question; immigration records, passenger lists, naturalisation records, civil and church records, military records, convict transportation records (for Australia). Knowing the birthplace of the ancestor being researched / the townland or even the parish / will often make all the difference between a successful and unsuccessful search.

Please note that many of the sources most often referred to in books on genealogy, including the older sources listed below, will be of little use to the majority of people searching for their ancestors. This is because usually only prominent landowners were listed. The vast bulk of printed and MSS information on genealogy and family history contained in the principal repositories in Ireland refers to a fairly small group of families. Ironically these are usually people who need such information least, as their own genealogies are documented in their family legal papers.

The following major sources are available in the Central Library:

A 1. Census Records and Census Substitutes

1901 and 1911 Census
Because of the destruction of the Four Courts building during the Civil War, the earliest surviving complete records are for the censuses taken in 1901 and 1911. We hold microfilm copies of both the 1901 and 1911 Census returns for the County, [originals in the National Archives]. These lists all those present in the household on the night of the census (31^st March 1901, and on a range of dates from January to May 1911), their relationship to the householder, religion, occupation, age and other personal details. The returns are arranged by District Electoral Division and townland. *Microfilm

Other records in this category can be classed as census substitutes.

Muster Rolls
Dating from1630, this is the oldest census substitute record we hold. It is a list of able-bodied men able to fight, if needed, for the Crown, listed by barony and undertaker'. It is reprinted in Donegal Annual Vol. 10 (2). 1972. pp 130-149, from the BM Add. MS 4770 manuscript.

Civil Survey
This is a record of land ownership compiled between 1654 and 1656. The Civil Survey for Donegal is printed, along with those for Derry and Tyrone, in a monograph published in 1937. [The Civil survey A.D. 1654-1656. Dublin: Stationery Officer, 1937].

Pender's Census'
This is a similar record, laid out by barony and townland, listing persons with title to land, the numbers of Irish and English, and principal Irish names (a valuable list). It takes its name from Seamus Pender, who edited it, but it was compiled in 1659 by William Petty. [Seamus Pender. A Census of Ireland circa 1659. Dublin: Stationery Officer, 1939].

Pynnar's Survey

This is, like Pender's Census, a survey of the native Irish tenants remaining on forfeited lands, and is contained in The Plantation in Ulster by George Hill. Belfast: M'Caw, Stevenson & Orr, 1877. 621p.

Hearth Money Rolls
These list the names of householders who were eligible to pay the Hearth Tax, and were compiled in 1665. Ours is an indexed photocopy, from the PRONI T. 307/C manuscript.

Wills
Abstract of Wills in the Registry of Deeds
Volume 1 1708 - 1745
Volume 2 1746 - 1785
Volume 3 1785 - 1832.

Freeholders

This is a bound typescript of the owners of freeholds in Donegal, registered between 1760 and 1769. The original manuscripts were found in the basement of Lifford Courthouse in 1933 and sent to the National Library.

Raphoe Marriage Registers
This is a photocopy of some 18^th century Catholic marriages in the Protestant registers of the Diocese of Raphoe.

Protestant householders

A list of Protestant householders in the parish of Leck in 1766 is reprinted in Lecky's The Laggan and its Presbyterianism (1905). This also lists Hearth Money Rolls for East Donegal [1665], tenants on the Abercorn estate, and householders in St. Johnston, both 1794.

Parish of Culdaff
This is a photocopy of a List of persons in the Parish of Culdaff, March 8^th, 1782.

Spinning-wheel premium lists/the Flax List
This is a photocopy of those persons in Donegal to whom a premium was paid in 1796, in connection with the spinning of flax.

These are lists of landholders, originally compiled as the basis for compulsory payments to the local rector, on behalf of the Church of Ireland, (the established church). We hold the Tithe Applotment books for the parishes of Aghaninshin (1834), Aughnish (1830), Burt (183-); Desertegney (183-) and Donegal (183-). That for Mevagh (1827) is reprinted in Leslie Lucas's Mevagh down the years Belfast: Appletree Press, 1982. [originals in the National Archives]. *Microfilm

Other Photocopied Material
Donegal remembers World War I dead' (a list of men from the County who fought and died in World War I).
A List of families in the Parish of Conwal 1878 / compiled by W. Craig.
Old Letterkenny families / compiled by Sam Fleming.
Murlog Church baptisms 1773-1777.
St. Eunan's Letterkenny: List of Marriage Lines 1857.
Protestant householders in the parish of Templecrone 1799
List of High Sheriffs of County Donegal 1702-1921
List of tenants on William Connolly's estate 1718-1726 (Donegal Annual 1981)

A 2. Land Records

Griffith's Primary Valuation

This / the first standard valuation of all real property in Ireland / lists householders and lessors by townland, parish, poor law union, and barony. We hold a full set for Donegal, in volumes arranged by barony. Although the publication dates for County Donegal are stated to be 1857-58, there is strong evidence to suggest that the valuation was carried out up to a decade earlier. It is known, for instance, that some persons listed as being present in 1857-58 had died in the Famine. The maps relating to Griffith's Valuation are in the Valuation Office, Dublin. Entries for all the Donegal Unions are in book form. The entries for the rest of Ireland are on *Microfiche.

Genealogical and family history information is also to be found in some monographs e.g. Amy Isabel Young's Three hundred years in Inishowen Belfast: McCann, Stevenson & Orr, 1929, Charlie Conaghan's History and antiquities of Killybegs Ballyshannon, 1975, and in many local community publications.

Hamilton Estate Rentals (Fintown) 1818-1849 (microfilm)
List of tenants in the townlands of Ballydermott, Ballydavitt, Ballinamore, and Magherybeg comprising the Hamilton estate; acreage rented, rents and arrears. *Microfilm
On the same microfilm:
Manorvaughan and Dutton Estate records of the Third Earl of Leitrim for the year 1836.
Includes such townlands as Cooladerry, Rinmore, Magheradrummond, Fanavolty, Rosapenna, Ba;;ynabrocky, Ballyvehill. Names of tenants, population statistics, land valuation, annual rents, some of the Earl's observations about his tenants.

A 3. Other Sources in Central Library

Royal Irish Constabulary index 1816-1922 (microfiche)

An alphabetised listing of men who joined the RIC between 1816 until its disbandment in 1922.
Name; age; married or single; native county; year of enlistment; whether emigrated and to where. *Microfiche

Passenger Lists

We hold a number of published passenger lists (mainly for vessels leaving Derry Port) and of US immigration lists. The earliest records date from 1735. They include:

Donegal passengers on the Assisted Passenger Lists from Plymouth, England to Sydney Australia 1848-1868 compiled by Richard Reid.

Emigrants from Ireland to America 1735-1743 by Frances McDonnell.
Passengers from Ireland: lists of passengers arriving at American ports between 1811 and 1817 / by Donald M. Schlegel.

Irish passenger lists 1847-1871: lists of passengers sailing from Londonderry to America on ships of the J & J. Cooke Line and the McCorkell Line / complied by Brian Mitchell.

Passenger list of the Invercargill' which sailed to New Zealand 1878 (65 passengers from County Donegal [photocopy].

Immigration of Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania 1682-1750

The Famine Immigrants, listing Irish immigrants arriving at the Port of New York [7 volumes]

Volume 1: Jan 1846 / June 1847
Volume 2: July 1847 / June 1848
Volume 3: July 1848 / March 1849
Volume 4: April 1849 / Sept 1849
Volume 5: Oct 1849 / May 1850
Volume 6: June 1850 / March 1851
Volume 7: April 1851 / Dec 1851

The Search for Missing Friends: Irish immigrant advertisements placed in the Boston Pilot [8 volumes]

Volume 1: 1831 / 1850
Volume 2: 1851 / 1853
Volume 3: 1854 / 1856
Volume 4: 1857 / 1860
Volume 5: 1861 / 1865
Volume 6: 1866 / 1870
Volume 7: 1871 / 1876
Volume 8: 1877 / 1920.

Parish Registers available in Central Library

We have Church of Ireland parish registers for Inver, Mountcharles, Killaghtee and Killybegs, all in the South of the County. The Inver records (Baptisms and Marriages) begin in 1805, Killybegs Baptisms in 1809 and Marriages in 1838, Killaghtee Marriages begin in 1857 and baptisms in 1873, and Mountcharles Marriages in 1861 and Baptisms in 1877.
*Microfilm. No printouts

Index to parish records of:-	Years available
First Letterkenny Presbyterian Church	1845-1899
Gortlee (Letterkenny) Reformed Presbyterian Church	1872-1898
Letterkenny Second Presbyterian Church	1821-1858
Letterkenny Third Presbyterian Church	1841-1899
Milford Presbyterian Church	1838-1899
Rathmullan Presbyterian Church	1845-1899
Fanad Presbyterian Church	1827-1899

Gravestone Inscriptions

Typescript records of gravestone inscriptions for the following graveyards, some include maps:

Aughaninshin

Balleeghan

Bruckless

Clonleigh

Old Inver

Church of Ireland, Inver
Old Killaghtee

Church of Ireland, Killaghtee

St. Catherine's, Killybegs

Kilmacrennan

Kilmonaster

Leck

Gartan

St. Eunan's Cathedral, Raphoe

Raymoghy

Tullaghobegley

Tullyaughnish

A number of gravestone inscriptions have been published:

Assaroe Abbey

in Ó Gallachair, Pádraig. Assaroe Cemetery' Donegal Annual Vol. 3 (3). 1957. pp81-107.

Ballyshannon, Church of Ireland

in Begley, Anthony. Graveyard inscriptions at St. Anne's Church of Ireland, Ballyshannon'. Donegal Annual Vol 12 (2). 1978. pp320-358.

Carne, Pettigo

in Ó Gallachair, Pádraig, Slevin, P., and Cunningham, John Carne graveyard, Pettigo, Co. Donegal' Donegal Annual Vol. 41, 1989. pp135-156.

Finner

in Ó Gallachair, Padraig Where Erne and Drowes meet the Sea [s.l.: s.n.] 1961.

Machaire Gathláin (Maheragallon)

in Irish Family History 5, 1989. pp.

Trade Directories

We hold a range of directories which list the merchants, professionals, clergy and gentry in each town. These include:

Slater's Directory of Ireland 1846, 1856, 1870, 1881 and 1884. *Microfiche

Pigot's Directory of Ireland 1820, 1821, 1822 and 1824. *Microfiche

Porter's Guide to the manufacturers and shippers of Ireland 1908. Book

NB* Booking advised for use of Microfilm/Microfiche items. See above for Library opening hours and contact numbers.