Storbeck's

With over 40 million people claiming Irish extraction in the United States alone, and an ever-spreading Irish diaspora, this Dictionary has become an indispensable guide throughout the globe to the surnames of Ireland. Each entry begins with a brief etymology of the given name, related forms, origins, and geographical distribution. This is accompanied by examples of famous people who have borne the name, arranged chronologically, relating brief anecdotes about their lives or explaining their claims to fame.

It is said the Irish dwell too much on the past. But anyone interested in their background will find this book fascinating. It contains a compelling chronicle of the history of fifty well-known Irish family surnames from their origins to the seventeenth century. Each surname is the subject of a separate article with special attention to early parish searts, such as castles, parishes and townlands, and associations with various families throughout the county and country. The origins of the surnames are also explained, information not readily accessible elsewhere, thus providing a reliable foundation for everyone endeavouring to trace his/her ancestry.

In this book every church and burial ground in Ireland, whatever the denomination, is identified in relation to a townland or street address. Each townland is located within its appropriate civil parish, and each civil parish is listed in alphabetical order within its county and is preceded by a number which gives its location in An New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland (also by Brian Mitchell). An Ordnance Survey number, also provided, allows the researcher to pinpoint the curch's exact location on a sin-inch Ordnance Survey map. The source of this information has lain for over a hundred years within the pages of the Griffith's or Primary Valuation of Ireland. Sir Richard Griffith's great survey, in which every head of household in Ireland was recorded, was carried out between 1848 and 1864. All churches and graveyards were listed in this survey, so even churches that are now defunct and graveyards that have since been separated from their churches can be located with this guide.

Here is a book that delivers more than it promises! It not only tells you which Irish parish registers exist (all denominations), what their starting dates are, and where or how they can be located, but it links the parish registers to Griffith's Valuation of Ireland, the great survey of property holders taken between 1848 and 1864. Historically, the civil parish -- as opposed to the church parish -- was the basic unit for the administration of records in Ireland. Most important Irish records -- parish records of birth, marriage, and death, for instance, and Griffith's Valuation -- are either organized along civil parish lines or, as in the case of Catholic parish records, which are organized by dioces, can be tied into civil parish records for further research. This book locates churches of all denominations, including Romasn Catholic, within their civil parish and gives the earliest commencement date of their registers. In tabular form, in alphabetical order within each of the thiry-two counties, it gives the name of the civil parish; the name of the Church of Ireland parish (if different) and the earlist baptism entry in the registers; the Roman Catholic parish and the earliest baptism or marriage entry in the registers; the Presbyterian congregation and the earliest baptism entries; and, if registers of dissenting churches are extant (Quaker, Medhodist, Congregationalist, Baptist, etc), it gives the commencement date of their registers as well. In addition, it provides map references to Mr. Mitchell's A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland and to the maps accompanying the householders' index to Griffith's Valuation. This makes parish records and the Griffith's Valuation compatible, as they can both now be identified by the same administrative division -- the civil parish.

All the Prerogative Wills of Ireland were destroyed in the great fire in the Dublin Courthouse in 1922, but prior to that time Sir William Betham had made abstracts of the genealogical data found in the wills dating from 1536 to 1800. In 1897 Sir Arthur Vicars prepared an index to Betham's abstracts, little guessing that 25 years later the original wills would be destroyed and his index would be the only printed guide to the wills and the only means of access to the mass of abstracts left behind by Sir William Betham. In all, the index contains 40,000 entries arranged alphabetically by the name of the testador, showing his rank, occupation or condition, his town and county of residence, and the year in which the estate was probated. Considering the loss of the original wills, this must be accounted one of the most useful tools in all Irish genealogical research.

Indexes To Irish Wills is an alphabetical index of over 30,000 Diocesan wills proved in the Consistorial Courts of Ireland between 1536 nad 1857. Arranged by Dioceses, and proceeded by maps showing in which Dioceses the various Irish counties are situated, the Indexes provide the name of the testador, his parish, county, and the date of probate, and are, in short, complete lists of Diocesan wills proved up until 1857 when the various ecclesiastical courts were abolished by Act of Parliament and superseded by the Probate Court. Since the Public Record Office in Dublin was destroyed by fire in 1922, and the records of genealogical interest thereby lost, information furnished by the Indexes To Irish Wills is very often the only source for determining the social and financial status of an ancestor. These indexes further provide clues for checking land records (many of which were not lost in the fire) for an estate partition and transfers of lease from testador to heir. The importance of wills to genealogists can never be overestimated; wills are indeed the principal starting points for genealogical research. As Phillimore aptly remarks in the Preface to Volume I, There is perhaps no class of record to be named which can be regarded as of greater value to the genealogist than are wills. These documents usually give information respecting the testador's own family and his kindred, which seldom can be elsewhere obtained. This volume is a perfect companion to Sir Arthur Vicars' Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland, 1536-1810 as together they comprise the two classes of Irish wills-Diocesan and Prerogative.

This book is intended as a selection of Irish names for children. Just under a thousand Irish personal names are contained in this tremendous resource and reference book.

Successful genealogical research in Ireland depends on a knowledge of geograph, because all major Irish record sources are linked to at least one of the six administrative divisions mapped in this work -- counties, barones, civil parishes, dioceses, poor law unions, and probate districts. To aid the researcher in identifying the precise location of these administrative divisions, and thus their juurisdiction, Mr. Mitchell has drawn at least three maps for every county. The first county map depicts the civil parishes; the second shows the baronies and dioceses of that county; the third map illustrates the poor law unions and the parishes included with the probate districts serving that county. Three maps of Ireland are also included to show the area covered by each county, diocese, and probate district. In addition, the Introduction discusses the link between the major administrative divisions and the major record sources of Ireland.

This Return lists the number and names of owners of land of one acre and upwards; arranged by counties and alphabetized by surnames. It constitutes a virtual census of a significant proportion of the Irish population in 1876.