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Galway genealogical service steers people on their ancestral path
Tracing your ancestors can be a time-consuming process and it can be hard to know where exactly to start. But with the research services of the Galway Family History Society West (GFHSW), based at St. Joseph’s Community Centre in Shantalla, the task could be so much easier.
GFHSW offers a full genealogical service for West County Galway – an area stretching from Dunmore in the North-East to Kinvara in the South and includes Galway City, Connemara and the islands. The East Galway Family History Society is based in Woodford and is the designated research centre for the eastern part of the county.
“Both organisations are part of the Irish Family History Foundation’s (IFHF) network of nationwide centres. The IFHF is an all-Ireland, not-for-profit organisation that has been the coordinating body for county genealogy centres for over 25 years,” explained Bríd Higgins, Project Co-ordinator of the GFHSW.
Founded by Nuala Silke, Maeve Hanly, Mary Walsh Murray and Christine Conneely, GFHSW is a community project with the aim of gathering, transcribing and computerising genealogical sources for the Galway West region.
Directors of the Galway Family History Society West outside the centre in Shantalla Community Centre. Front row (from left): Maeve Hanley, Sr Máire MacNiallais, Nuala Silke, Secretary, and Mae Prendergast. Middle row: Mary Imbusch, Lois Tobin, Mary Walsh Murray,Treasurer, and Mary Connolly. Back: Colín Hernon, Chairperson.
During Heritage Week 2015, the GFHSW held an information lecture in which Bríd Higgins discussed tracing your ancestors in Galway. She emphasised that prior to commencing genealogical research, it is important to be aware of the nature and availability of genealogical sources.
“Civil and Church records are only available up to 1900 for confidentiality purposes. The extensive GFHSW database for genealogical research contains such main sources as Church and Civil records, Census, Land and Graveyard records,” Miss Higgins said.
So how do you go about tracing your ancestors? According to Miss Higgins, you start with what you know and work back. “You can work back initially to your parents, finding their birth record if you do not know the details of your grandparents.
“Then when you find your grandparents’ names, look for their marriage record. You can go back through the generations going from birth record to parents’ marriage record, working through civil records if you need to until you come to the Census of 1911 and 1901, which will then guide you through researching pre-1900 in church and civil registration.
“The genealogy centres that are part of the IFHF throughout Ireland can assist you in this through the vast array of records they have on their database.”
With records of baptisms, marriages and deaths for 39 Roman Catholic parishes and 12 Church of Ireland parishes, baptisms and marriages for four Methodist parishes and one Presbyterian parish, the Galway Family History Society West is an excellent way of tracing your roots.
“Generally, very few Roman Catholic Parish Registers commenced pre-1800. The commencement dates of parish registers vary greatly from parish to parish,” said Miss Higgins.
“Urban areas generally commenced registrations earlier than rural areas. In the western part of Co Galway, the earliest parish records are for the parish of Moycullen, which date back to 1786. However, the neighbouring parish of Killannin only commenced keeping baptism and marriage registers in 1875.
“Most others, however, commenced in the mid-19th century. The earliest Church of Ireland records held by GFHSW relate to Galway City beginning in 1792.”
Among the large collection of records held by the GFHSW are graveyard inscriptions. Death records were often not recorded in many parishes, according to Miss Higgins, and when they were, the information within them was sparse.
“With this in mind, a project was undertaken in the early 1900s to record memorial inscriptions. The inscriptions recorded enhance the existing database of death records for West Galway. These, too, are a precious source of information, with some inscriptions dating back to dates that precede all records for the parish in question.”
There is also a wealth of local history to call upon from GFHSW’s in-house reference library, which includes local histories and general histories of the Galway area. You’ll also find copies of a publication entitled Galway Roots – Clanna na Gallimhe, which was a journal produced annually from 1993 to 1998.
As well as its fantastic genealogy research service, the GFHSW also provides computer training and employment skills in the community as a GRETB Local Training Initiative. The programme is designed for the unemployed who are unable to participate in other GRETB training interventions for personal, social or geographic reasons.
“The programme now provides two Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) accredited programmes – Level 3 in Employability Skills and Level 4 in Office Skills. Both courses assist learners in gaining skills and expertise to prepare them for the workplace,” said Miss Higgins.
“The overall aim of the project from the training perspective is to provide skills and related knowledge to further develop attitudes, personal effectiveness and job-seeking skills to enable the learner to obtain employment in their chosen field.”
The project currently has vacancies and can accommodate 14 learners at a time. To avail of a course, you must be on the live register. Recruitment is via the Department of Social Protection of Local Employment Services.
For more information on the project, or on how to trace your ancestors, contact Bríd or Gráinne on 091 860 464 or email galwaywestroots@eircom.net.
Some 60 tourism companies from Ireland attended ‘Flavours of Ireland’ 2022 in London last week – including Connemara Wild Escapes, DK Connemara Oysters and Killary Fjord Boat Tours.
‘Flavours’ is Tourism Ireland’s annual B2B tourism workshop, where tourism companies from Ireland meet and do business with top global inbound tour operators.
Now in its 20th year, ‘Flavours’ took place in the Guildhall, in the City of London, and was attended by around 100 global inbound tour operators who deliver business from all over the world, including the United States, Mainland Europe, Asia, Australasia and Africa.
‘Flavours’ provides an excellent opportunity for the participating tourism providers from Galway and Ireland to highlight and sell their tourism product and build valuable relationships with the key decision-makers in attendance.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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From the Galway City Tribune – The Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) has asked Galway City Council to roll back material alterations to the new City Development Plan proposed by councillors.
In July, elected members voted through a raft of changes to zonings in the Draft City Development Plan 2023-29, which went out on public display.
But the Planning Regulator has now warned City Hall that many of the proposed changes do not comply with the OPR’s recommendations, and are contrary to national planning guidelines.
The OPR specifically highlighted problems with proposals to rezone as residential land deemed at risk of flooding.
Anne Marie O’Connor, Deputy Regulator, wrote to the Council’s Planning Department outlining the OPR’s fresh advice on the changes to the draft plan proposed and approved by councillors.
The draft plan will come before elected members again this month.
Councillors will be asked to row back on some of their previous material alterations, which ran contrary to advice of the OPR.
Ms O’Connor said the OPR welcomed many of the changes made by the City Council in its draft plan. She said, however, that the OPR “has a number of outstanding concerns relating to the response of the planning authority to its recommendations and to a number of proposed material alterations relating to the zoning of lands”.
These relate to changes that conflict with national and regional objectives for compact growth; with legislative requirements regarding climate action and core strategies; and with rezoning land at risk of flooding.
The OPR highlighted a dozen or more material alterations by councillors that are “not consistent” with the National Planning Framework for compact growth.
These include re-zoning of land from agricultural or recreational and amenity to residential.
The changes voted on by councillors, the OPR noted, were done against the advice of the Council’s Chief Executive Brendan McGrath.
The OPR said the changes proposed by councillors represented a “piecemeal approach” to zoning and were “inconsistent” with national policy.
These comments related to proposed rezoning of land at Rahoon; Dublin Road; Quarry Road, Menlo; Ballindooley; off Circular Road; Menlo village; Roscam and Barna Woods.
The OPR also raised “significant concerns” over five material alterations proposed for residential zonings of land at Western Distributor Road; Terryland; Menlo Village; Headford Road and Barna Woods which are located within flood zones.
The approach by councillors “may place people and property at unnecessary risk from future flood events”, the OPR warned.
Ms O’Connor told planners that if the draft plan ignores the OPR advice or is at odds with its recommendations, the Council Chief Executive must inform the OPR in writing the reasons for doing so.
Save Roscam Peninsula in a 33-page submission to the draft plan echoed many of the concerns outlined by the OPR.
The Council has pencilled in four dates in November and December to approve the plan.
It will meet on November 21, 24 and 28 and December 1 when material alterations will be voted on individually.
This article first appeared in the print edition of the Galway City Tribune, November 4. You can support our journalism by subscribing to the Galway City Tribune HERE. The print edition is in shops every Friday.
JOHN HARNEY from Mountpleasant first joined the Ballinasloe Horse and Agriculture Show Committee, all of 60-years ago, on April 24, 1962. Both John and the show are still going strong as they celebrate their 183rd event on this Sunday. Here, he looks back on his involvement with this iconic show through the years.
THE Ballinasloe Show back in the early 1960s was going well with both the Showgrounds and Duggan Park both used for running the competitions.
My first introduction to the show was stewarding the pony competitions in the Mountpleasant end of the Duggan Park with the rest of the GAA field being used for trade stands.
At that time, it was a very big show with horses, ponies, cattle and sheep, pigs and fowl – also there was a big garden and farm produce section as well as a home craft and baking section with flowers and plants supported by a very large women’s committee.
At that time, showjumping took place in the afternoon with the top riders in the country taking part. I was elected Chairman at the AGM in 1975, a position I held for ten years.
During that time, the Duggan Park Committee approached the Show Committee for a piece of the showgrounds behind the GAA Stand for dressing rooms.
This was brought up a number of times at our committee meetings, and at first, the view was that the Duggan Park Committee would buy the ground.
However, after much deliberation it was decided by the Show Committee to ‘give the ground’ for the sum of £1 with the proviso that the dressingrooms could be used on show days by the local ICA to do catering for the event.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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