Irish Tombstone Messages Compiled

What would you give for a copy of your Irish ancestor’s tombstone inscription?

Heritage World of County Tyrone, one of Northern Ireland’s foremost genealogy research companies, has surveyed the gravestone inscriptions for almost 900 area cemeteries. The survey encompassed cemeteries of all religious denominations and civilly administered cemeteries.

“Irish Gravestone Inscriptions: A Guide to Sources in Ulster,” by William O’Kane and Eoin Kerr, lists all the cemeteries surveyed by Heritage World. There is a section for each county, with each cemetery identified by denomination or as a civil cemetery.

For example, for County Derry-Londonderry, 21 cemeteries are listed, some Catholic, some Church of Ireland, some Presbyterian, some Quaker and some civil.

Information pertaining to tombstones can be acquired from Heritage World either as index listing or a full gravestone inscription.

For details of costs and availability, contact Heritage World, 26 Market Square, County Dungannon, Tyrone, Northern Ireland, BT70 1AB.

Use the book to help choose the cemetery where you think your Irish ancestors might be buried and then send to Heritage World for the inscription.

The $7.95 paperback (plus $3.50 postage) is available from Genealogical Publishing, (800) 296-6687.

The first quarter issue of “The Irish At Home and Abroad” in 1999 carried a dandy article, “Finding Irish Estate Papers,” by Kyle J. Betit.

Estate records are the private papers of Ireland’s landlords, those who held tracts of land and leased or rented property to those who lived there. Prior to the 20th century, most people rented or leased land, rather than own it. Estate papers may be among the only sources available for tracing the poorer classes in Ireland, as the landowners kept some track of their tenants.

Betit gives the strategy for accessing estate papers of the landowners:

Determine the town, land or parish where the ancestor lived.

Identify the landowner’s name and title.

Determine where the landowner’s estate papers are deposited.

Access the estate papers.

Using a time period table from 1708 to the 1900s, Betit gives sources on how to identify landowners. He devotes several pages of sources to help readers locate the estate papers.

“The Irish At Home and Abroad” should be on your personal subscription list if you research Irish ancestors. Send $25 to The Irish, P.O. Box 521806, Salt Lake City, UT 84152, or visit them online at www.IHAonline.com.

The 4th edition of Angus Baxter’s “In Search of your British & Irish Roots,” promises to be the complete guide to trace your Scottish ancestors.

There are 25 pages about researching records in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland. In simple language, Baxter discusses the records found in each county’s public record offices.

Cost is $18.95, plus $3.50, from Genealogical Publishing, (800) 296-6687.

Today’s Trivia: In 1800, the population of Ireland was 5 million; in 1851, it was 6,552,385. During the Potato Famine, nearly 2 million people emigrated from Ireland to destinations around the world. Between 1845 and 1851, nearly $20 million was sent home by Irish emigrants in the United States to help relatives make the crossing. The voyage took from six weeks to three months; passage price averaged $10. In 1847, “coffin ships” to Canada (so called because of less-stringent regulations) contributed to the death of some 20,000 Irish enroute to North America.