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.