September 1, 1995 Irish and Scottish Newsletter QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: Q: Is there a repository for Irish Newspapers in NYC dating to the 1920 and 1940's? A: Check your local library for NEWSPAPERS IN MICROFORM (also on LDS film # 1145942) It will tell you of all the papers which have survived and have been microfilmed, who has them, which dates they cover, etc. If you find one you're interested in, copy that page and take it to your reference librarian. You can then interlibrary loan the microfilm of that newspaper to your local library to read. Q: What would I look for first at the LDS A: First you need to understand what the records are in Ireland. For that, read "Irish & Scotch Irish Ancestral Research" by Margaret Falley. It's a 2 volume set of books that will explain all the various kinds of records there are. Try to figure out which ones might apply to your family. Once you've done that, you then go to the LDS Library and ask to see their Locality Catalogue on microfiche for Ireland. You're looking for those records you found in Falley's book that might apply to your family. BE SURE you check out the subject: Archives/Libraries. That's where all the holdings of the PRO (now National Archives) and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, along with a # of other libraries who have allowed their collections to be microfilmed. Also, be sure to check out Richard Hayes' Manuscript Sources of the History of the Irish Civilization (on film). It is an 11 volume set of books that are grouped as follows: 4 vol on surnames, a couple on places, a couple on dates or chronology, and one or so on manuscripts. It also gives you the location in Ireland where those various files can be found. If you find anything in Hayes that shows a file to be at the PRO, you then go to the PRO listings to see if it's been microfilmed. NAMES OF THE MONTH This month the Irish surname taken from EDWARD MacLYSAGHT's book IRISH FAMILIES Their Names, Arms & Origins, SciPrint Limited, Copyright Irish Academic Press Limited, ISBN # 0-7165-2364-7 is: BARRETT, MacPadine, (MacEvilly, Staunton) The surname Barrett came to Ireland with the Anglo-Norman invaders at the end of the twelfth century, and, in due course, became hibernicized, though not to the extent that some others such as Fitzgerald and Burke did, inas-much as Barrett is still a common name in England. Though they came to Ireland at the same period, the ancestors of the Irish Barretts were of two quite distinct families whose names were at first different and who settled in widely separated parts of the country. The surname Barrett to-day is most numerous in Co. Cork and in the Mayo- Galway area, in fact approximately where their forefathers established themselves more than seven centuries ago. The former were Barratt (in Irish Baroid) the latter Barrett (in Irish Baireid). O'Donovan states that both lines were Welsh; Woulfe, who writing sixty years later usually accepts O'Donovan's opinions, disagrees and regards Baroid as of Norman origin (from the Norman French name Baraud) and Baireid as Anglo Saxon. The Munster Barretts, though numerically stronger than those of Connacht, were of less importance in the medieval or Gaelic period; nevertheless they were influential enough to give their name to an extensive territory, viz. Barrett's Country, i.e. approximately the present barony of Barretts in Co. Cork. They did not, however, become entirely gaelicized like their Connacht namesakes. Those Barretts who early acquired a large part of north Mayo were lords of Tirawley and founded there a sept on the Irish model. The chief of this sept was known as MacWattin - it is spelt MacVaittin by O'Donovan in his translation of the Four Masters, and it so appears in the Annals at various dates in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In the sixteenth, however, the "Composition Book of Connacht" (1 5 85) which includes the names of many Mayo Barretts, as do the Fiants of approximately the same date, describes the then Chief of the Name as Richard Barrett, alias MacPadine; and it is interesting to note that the surname MacPadden is found in Mayo to-day, while MacWattin is unknown. It must also be remembered that the name MacPadine was adopted by certain families of the Stauntons, another of the Anglo-Norman invaders. Some of these again adopted as their Gaelic surname Mac an Mhileadha (anglice MacEvilly), so that confusion may easily arise, especially as there is an Ulster name MacPhaidin (MacFadden, MacFadyen, etc.), and this is also found in Gaelic Scotland. The Munster Barretts, in spite of their somewhat dishonourable treatment by Sir John Perrott and later by John St. Leger, managed to retain the bulk of their property until 1691 when the Williamite confiscation deprived Col. John Barrett, the head of the family at that time, of 12,000 acres. This Col. Barrett had raised a regiment of infantry for King James's army in Ireland, and subsequently was killed in the French service at the Battle of Landen in 1693. In the eighteenth century Richard Barrett (c. 1740-1818), "the Poet of Erris", was also a prominent United Irishman, and George Barrett (d. 1784) was a celebrated landscape painter. Rev. John Barrett (1753-1821), of Dublin University, was a noted Hebrew scholar. In the nineteenth century Michael Barrett, the Fenian, condemned for the attempt to blow up Clerkenwell Prison, was executed in 1868 - the last public execution in England. Laurence Barrett (1838-1891), a leading American actor, was the son of an Irish emigrant, but the other Barrett family of American actors were of English extraction. From Robert Bain's "The Clans and Tartans of Scotland", Fontana/Collins, Glasgow and London, c1968 ISBN # 0 00 411117 6 BALMORAL ....A Castle situated on the upper valley of the Dee, Aberdeenshire, 9 mi. from Ballater. Purchased by Queen Victoria in 1848, it has always been a favorite of the Royal Family. Tartan has a tanish gray background with stripes of red, light charcoal and dark charcoal. The visit of King George IV to Edinburgh in 1822, and the large number of persons wearing the Highland dress on that occasion created a general interest in tartans, and the love of Her Majesty Queen Victoria for all things Highland, and particularly tartan, led to an increased use of tartan on all possible occasions. The Balmoral tartan was designed by HRH, the Prince Consort and was used by Queen Victoria when making gifts to her friends. It was in general use in the royal household when the Queen visited the Highlands, and is reserved for the sole use of the Royal Family. GENERAL INFORMATION The following is Part 2 of a 2 part description of the General Register Office for Scotland. Part 1 was in the August Newsletter 2. LIST OF MAIN RECORDS IN THE CUSTODY OF THE REGISTRAR GENERAL BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES IN SCOTLAND (BEFORE 1855) Old parish registers (1553 to 1854)-- Registers kept by the parish ministers or session clerks before the introduction of compulsory civil registration in 1855. The registers record births and baptisms, proclamation of banns and marriages, and deaths and burials, but the series of registers is far from complete, the adequacy of the records varies from parish to parish, and few of the four thousand volumes are indexed. A list of indexed material is available to searchers in the Registrar General's library. Register of neglected entries (1801 to 1854)-- Record of births, deaths and marriages proved to have occurred in Scotland between 1801 and 1854 but not entered in the old parish registers. BIRTHS, DEATHS, MARRIAGES, STILL-BIRTHS AND ADOPTIONS IN SCOTLAND (FROM 1855) Registers of births, deaths and marriages (from 1855)-- These civil registers, which started on 1 January 1855, constitute the main series of national records of vital events. They are compiled by district registrars and record events which have occurred in Scotland. At the end of each year they are despatched to the General Register Office, where copies are prepared for district use and separate national indexes are made for each category of events - births, deaths and marriages. The registers and most of the indexes become available in the General Register Office in the year after the current year, as soon as copying and indexing have been completed. Registers of still-births (from 1939)-- Record of still-births occurring in Scotland, Compiled by district registrars. These registers are not open for public search and extracts are issued only in exceptional circumstances, e.g. for legal purposes. Adopted children register (from 1930)-- Record of persons adopted under orders made by Scottish Courts. There are no entries relating to persons born before October 1909. BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES OUTSIDE SCOTLAND Marine register of births and deaths (from 1855)-- Certified returns received from the Registrar General for Shipping and Seamen in respect of births and deaths on British registered merchant vessels at sea if the child's father or the deceased person was a Scottish subject. Air register of births and deaths (from 1948)-- Record of births and deaths in any part of the world in aircraft registered in the United Kingdom where it appears that the child's father or the deceased person was usually resident in Scotland. Service records (from 1881)-- These include the Army Returns of Births, Deaths and Marriages of Scottish persons at military stations abroad during the period 1881-1959; the Service Departments Registers which, since 1 April 1959, have recorded births, deaths and marriages outside the United Kingdom relating to persons ordinarily resident in Scotland who are serving in or employed by HM Forces, including the families of members of the Forces; and certified copies of entries relating to marriages solemnized outside the United Kingdom by army chaplains since 1892, where one of the parties to the marriage is described as Scottish and at least one of the parties is serving in HM Forces. War registers (from 1899)-- There are three registers: South African War (1899-1902), which records the deaths of Scottish soldiers; World War 1 (1914-1919), which records the deaths of Scottish persons serving as Warrant Officers, Non-commissioned Officers or Men in the Army or as Petty Officers or Men in the Royal Navy; World War 11 (1939-1945), which consists of incomplete returns of the deaths of Scottish members of the Armed Forces. Consular returns of births, deaths and marriages (from 1914)-- Certified copies of registrations by British consuls relating to persons of Scottish descent or birth. Records of births and deaths date from 1914, records of marriages from 1917. High Commissioners' returns of births and deaths (from 1964)-- Returns from certain Commonwealth countries relating to persons of Scottish descent or birth. Some earlier returns are available for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Ghana, and some returns are available for marriages in certain countries. Registers of births, deaths and marriages in foreign countries (1860-1965)-- Record compiled by the General Register Office until the end of 1965. It related to the births of children of Scottish parents and the marriages and deaths of Scottish subjects, and the entries were made on the basis of information supplied by the parties concerned and after consideration of the evidence of each event. Foreign marriages (from 1947)-- Certified copies of certificates (with translations) relating to marriages of persons from Scotland in certain foreign countries according to the laws of these countries, without the presence of a British consular officer. Census records-- Records of the decennial census of the population of Scotland for 1841 and every tenth year Thereafter (with the exception of 1941) and of the quinquennial sample census in 1966 are held by the Registrar General, but only the records for 1841 to 1891 are open for public search. The open records consist of enumerators' transcript books, which are not indexed, and relate to the censuses held on the following dates: 7 June 1841 3 April 1871 31 March 1851 4 April 1881 8 April 1861 5 April 1891 FEES FOR SEARCHES AND EXTRACTS (as of 1977) 1. PARTICULAR SEARCH A particular search is a search for a specified entry made by a member of the General Register Office staff. Such a search can be undertaken only if sufficient identifying information is supplied. STATUTORY REGISTER OF BIRTHS, DEATHS, MARRIAGES AND ADOPTIONS PARISH REGISTERS (PRE-1855) AND CENSUS RECORDS (1841-1891) [See note (a)] (In the following all prices are in British Pounds Sterling and are current as of the date of the pamphlet and are subject to change. L2.5 = 2.5 British Pounds Sterling) First or only extract of entry following particular search - L2.50 Second or any subsequent extract of the same entry issued at the same time - Ll.50 Abbreviated certificate of birth [See note (b)] - Ll.50 Particular search in the indexes to the statutory registers where specified entry untraced for each period of 5 years or part thereof - Ll.00 Particular search in the parish registers where specified entry untraced for each period of 5 years or part thereof - Ll.50 Particular search in the census records where specified entry untraced for each census searched - Ll.50 2. GENERAL SEARCH A general search is a search, over any period of years for any number of entries, made by any member of the public. STATUTORY REGISTERS OF BIRTHS, DEATHS, MARRIAGES AND ADOPTIONS PARISH REGISTERS (PRE-1855) AND CENSUS RECORDS (1841-1891) [See note (a)] General search in the indexes to the statutory registers. (per day or part thereof)--L3.00 General search in the parish registers or census records. (per day or part thereof)--L2.00 INCLUSIVE FEES Search in the indexes to the statutory registers, in the parish registers, and in the census records (1841 to 1891)-- per day or part thereof - L3.50 per week - L8.00 per month - L23.00 per quarter - L45.00 Extract of entry following general search - Ll.50 NOTES (a) Searches are permitted in and extracts are issued from the 1881 and 1891 Census records on condition that no information derived from them is published without the permission of the Registrar General (b) An abbreviated certificate shows only the name and surname of the person, date and place of birth, and sex HELPFUL HINTS #1 - Check the names that are in surname message boards. There may be one of your names listed already.