For most of the eighteenth century only Protestant men who possessed what was known as a 40 shilling freehold were permitted to vote in parliament elections. In 1793 the law was changed to allow Catholic freeholders the right to vote as well. In the nineteenth century the qualifications for voting were revised on a number of occasions. Lists of freeholders, particularly from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries have survived for parts of Ulster and are particularly good for counties Armagh and Down.

John Cathcart's voting qualification may have been challenged not only as a result of the value of his property but also because of his religion.

During the 1770's in Ireland, there were a group of laws which the English Government implemented called the Penal Laws. Those laws forbade property ownership by non-members of the Church of Ireland (Anglican) which was the established church at that time. (The Church of Ireland wouldn't be disestablished until the 1870's). So those who were members of the Presbyterian Church (also known as "Dissenters") or Catholics, for example, couldn't own land so you may want to factor that into the vote challenge.

Non members of the Established Church, also, were not supposed to vote either. However, strict implementation of those provisions of the Penal Laws was often wholly dependent on local authorities. So in other words, the laws may not have been exercised at various times in various areas.

Sometimes, people joined the Church of Ireland (Anglican) to retain their property and vote.

Those provisions of the Penal Laws, as well as other restrictive provisions regarding education, etc. would result in the founding of the United Irishmen in Belfast in 1791 which was founded by Presbyterians (with Catholic and Church of Ireland members also) in the Province to secure political rights for the "disenfranchised". They were inspired by the American and French Revolutions. That would result in the failed 1798 Rebellion in Ireland. The failure of that Rebellion resulted in the Irish Parliament being dissolved in 1801 and government of the country being transferred to the English Parliament. That further created difficulties in local government management and restrictions.

So you'll find many Presbyterians who "fled" Ireland in the late 1700's and early 1800's as a result of these political events.

So the emigration of your Cathcarts at various times during this period may be directly associated with what was happening to them vis a vis their status and rights.

More to follow on church records.....

Eilis O'Hara

In 1823 the Composition Act was passed which stipulated that henceforth all tithes due to the Established Church, the Church of Ireland, were to be paid in money rather than in kind as they previously could have been. This necessitated a complete valuation of all tithable land in Ireland, the results of which are contained in manuscript form in the tithe applotment books arranged by parish. Copies of these for Northern Ireland are available in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. The tithe applotment books contain the name of the tithe-payer, the size of his farm and the amount of tithe he paid.

First Valuation

1830s - First Valuation or Townland Valuation

The First valuation or Townland Valuation was compiled in the 1830s. It is of more limited value to the genealogist, especially for rural areas, as it is more concerned with land use and value. It does, however, record all houses valued at £3 or more (this was later raised to £5 or more) as well as the name of the head of each of these households. The information is contained in fieldbooks arranged by parish. These are available in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

Griffith's Valuation

1848-64 - Griffiths Valuation

A valuation of all properties in Ireland was started in Co. Dublin in 1847 and completed in counties Armagh and Down in 1864. A summary version of this valuation, known as the Primary Valuation or more popularly as Griffith?s Valuation after Sir Richard Griffith, the man appointed Commissioner of Valuation, was published in some 200 volumes arranged by poor law union. In addition to the names of householders and landholders the valuation also provides the name of the person from whom the property was leased ? the ?immediate lessor?, a description of the property, its acreage and the valuation of both the land and the buildings. From 1864 the valuation revision books detail changes in occupancy of the properties. Griffith?s Valuation and the valuation revision books are available for Northern Ireland in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

General Research Info

IGSI - Researching in Ireland
Patrick Hogan, Historical Research Ireland

From: Patrick Hogan
Newsgroups: alt.genealogy
Subject: Re: Irish research
Date: 20 Jul 97
Organization: Historical Research Ireland

Tracing Your Irish Ancestry The First thing to do is to find out as much as you can about your ancestors in your own country from books, records and documents in libraries and state archives, tombstone inscriptions etc. Oral evidence is also important. Take note of any recollections of old relatives concerning the history of your family: family traditions usually contain some, grain of truth and these can provide vital clues in areas where documentary evidence is not available. For example. notes in family bibles, old photographs, newspaper cuttings etc can often provide basic information for your family history. In most states and provinces, cities and towns, there are genealogical societies which will give you advice about your research.

Information about the original emigrants initially tends to be vague but you should try to find out these details about him or her:
1. Where he / she came from in Ireland ( village, townland, parish, county).
2. His / her religion ( this is necessary for the use of church registers ).
3. His / her "vital statistics", that is dates of birth / marriage / death / emigration.

If you visit Ireland to pursue a search on your own you will find the necessary records and documents are spread amongst many different archives.
The main ones are:
The Public Record Office Of Northern Ireland, Belfast.
Which has official records or the ninetenlh century, large collections of private papers from the seventeenth century and copies of many pre-1900 church and school registers.

The National Archives, Dublin.
This includes the Public Record Office of Ireland and the State Paper Office. These archives house collections of many government and private papers including transportation papers, census returns, Church of Ireland registers, etc. The Public Record Offices in Belfast and Dublin DO NOT undertake genealogical research. Searches of their records can, however, be undertaken by you yourself or we will undertake the search for you.

The General Registrar's Office,Dublin and the Registrar General's Office,Belfast between them contain the registers of all births, deaths and marriages in Ireland after 1864 when state registration became compulsory (non-Catholic marriages date back to 1845 ).

Parish Registers.
An essential record to be searched before civil registration .

PARISH REGISTERS
This is the record that people tend to associate with genealogy. Before civil registration this is the only way to obtain an official record of a birth, death or marriage. Before searching out parish registers it is necessary to know two things. Firstly, in which parish did your ancestors live and, secondly, what was their religious affiliation Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian or other ?

When you have found out the above details the next step is the parish register.

The commencement of parish registers, however, varies from parish to parish For example the Church of Ireland register for St Columb's Cathedral, Derry dates from 1642 :While the Catholic register for Buncrane, County Donegal doesn't begin until 1864 ie. the same date as civil registration.

A further complication is that registers have been lost, destroyed or misplaced. In tracing your family, however, you should always attempt to identify the parish o# your ancestor and if a register extist to search through it for any references to the family.

4. WILLS. Very comprehensive from 1858.
Wills with their tendency to list surviving relatives - brothers , sisters childern and even grandchildren - are very important documents. It may be possible from a will to draw a family tree covering up to three generations. The main limitations of wills is that before 20th century very few people - usually the better off, such as farmers and merchants - made wills

Before 1858 the providing of wills was a church matter and many of these wills have not survived or are scattered among collections of family documents.

After 1858, however, it is an easy matter to obtain a copy of a will as from that date wills became a civil matter. Volumes, called calendars, exist for every year from 1858 and contain an alphabetical listing of people who had either wills proved or letters of administration granted.

EARLY CENSUS RECORDS

Censuses of Ireland were carried out in 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851 but their survival is very patchy and largely confined to Ulster.

The 1831 census for County Derry is perhaps one of the most useful. The census was carried out by parish and the details it gives against each household include the name of the head of the household, the townland they lived in, the number of persons in the family and their religion.

6 For mid l9th century
A. Street Directories eg 1846 Slaters Directory for Derry City.
B. Griffiths Valuation. This is essentially an all-Ireland census.

STREET DIRECTORIES

These are a useful source of information for people living in the towns of Ireland in the l9th century. The directories are usually organised by trade such as grocers , bakers, publicans, coopers, ship builders, tanners, rope makers and brewers, to name but a few. Under each trade will be listed the people carrying out that trade, together with their street address.

GRIFFITHS VALUATION

The years 1848 to 1864 cover the publication of Sir Richard Griffith's primary valuation of Ireland. As no census material of the 19th century survives for many parts of Ireland this record is of extreme importance. The record is comprehensive in that it lists all property holders, no matter how insignificant the amount of land or size of house they occupied.

16. Further Reading

D.F. Begley (Ed.) Irish Genealogy: A Record Finder. Pub. 1981. Dublin.

S. Quinn - Trace your Irish Ancestors. Pub. 1989 Bray

J. A. Black - Your Irish Ancestors. Pub. 1974 , London.

B. de Breffny - Bibliography of Irish Family History and Genealogy. Pub. 1974 , Cork.

Burtchael and Sadlier - Alumni Dublinenses. Pub. London 1924.

W. Clare - Simple Guide to Irish Genealogy.

M. A. Dickson Falley - Irish and Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research. Pub. Virginia, U.S.A 1962.

Dublin Public Libraries - How to Trace your Family tree. Pub. 1988. Dublin.

Genealogical Dept. of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
A Genealogical Research Guide for Ireland. Pub. 1978.

I. A. Glazier and M. Tepper (Eds.) The Famine Emigrants List of Irish emigrants arriving at the Port of New York, 1846 - 1851.

I. Grenan - Irish Family Names. Pub. 1973. London.

J. Grenham - Tracing your Irish Ancestor. Pub. 1992. Dublin.

Heraldic Artists - Handbook of Irish Genealogy. Pub. 1973, Dublin

Irish Family History Society
Directory of Parish Registers Indexed in Ireland. Pub. 1992, Naas.

T. Mc Carthy - The Irish Roots Guide. Pub. 1991. Dublin.

E. Mc Lysaght - Bibliography of Irish Family History. Pub. 1981. Dublin.

E. Mc Lysaght - Irish Familys: Their Names, Arms and Origins. Pub. 1957.

E. Mc Lysaght - More Irish Families. Pub. 1982

P. Magee - Tracing your Irish ancestors. Pub. 1986. U.S.A

B. S. Mitchell - Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy. Pub. 1988. U.S.A

B. S. Mitchell - A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland. Pub. 1986. Baltimore. U.S.A

W. Nolan - Tracing the Past. Pub. 1982 Dublin.

S. Quinn - An Introduction to Irish Ancestry. Pub. 1990. Bray.

J. G. Ryan - Irish Records: sources for Family and Local History Pub . Salt Lake City.

JOURNALS
Analecta Hibernica.
Directory of Irish Genealogy.
Irish Ancestor.
Irish Family History The Journal of the Irish Family History Society.
Irish Genealogist. The Journal of the Irish Genealogical Research Society.
Louth Archaeological Journal. Riocht na Midhe.


Historical Research Ireland :
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Should you wish to search before 1864 you need to know their Religion ? their place of Birth, Parish, District Town, its is possible to search Both Tithe Alloment Books & Griffith Valuation, c. 1830 & 1855 which list of head of Household Surname, for Co. Cork, then search the Parish Register for that area, it would help if you knew the parents name/s.

To assist you in your search for your Irish Ancestors, could you enclose the following information, the Religion of the family,this is needy to check the the Parish Registers held by the various Churches, Dates and Places that your Ancestors came from ; then hopefully together we may uncover your Irish roots.

------------------------

We do this by searching all known information in the four province of Ireland, including Civil and Parish; Births, Deaths and Marriage records for the 32 counties of Ireland up to 1922, and for the 26 counties to date, Census returns for 1901 & 1911 are also researched.

Civil registration began in Ireland in 1864 for Births, Deaths, and Marriages, while Church of Ireland Marriages began 1845,(civil).

Copys of Civil Birth, Death, Marriage.
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The cost to provide a Photo copy of a Birth, Death or Marriage entry recorded in the civil register held in the General Register Office, Dublin for the 32 Country of Ireland up to 1922, and for the 26 Country to the present, if the full reference is known, year/vol/page.

1, Photo copy #3:50 Sterling, $7:00 US, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand Dollar, payment accept by Personal Cheque, Money Order Bank Draft, made payable to Historical Research Ireland.

1, Full Certificate #8:00 Sterling, $15:00 US, C$ , A$ , NZ$ Dollar.

Delivery is approx 7 to 10 days from receipt of payment.

Should you require further detail fell free to ask !