Linen Hall Library

Irish Booklore: The Genealogical CollectionAuthor(s): John KillenSource: The Linen Hall Review, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 14-16Published by: Linen Hall LibraryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20534271 .

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Tne Genealogical Collection

Tke Genealogical Collection in tke Linen Hall Library, Belfast, being tke text o? a talk delivered

to the First Irish Genealogical Conference at Trinity College Dublin.

John Killen

I would preface this talk with the statement that the Linen

Hall Library is not a genealogical Library -

it is a Library with a genealogical collection. The distinction is important as it affects the level of service available to genealogical Researchers and helps determine what family history Researchers can realistically expect.

As early as 1795 the collecting policy of the library was set out thus:

The object of this society is the collection of an

extensive library. Philosophical Apparatus, and

such productions of Nature and Art as tend to

improve the mind and excite a spirit of general

inquiry; the society intends to collect such materials

as will illustrate the antiquities, the natural, civil,

commercial and ecclesiastical history of this

country.

From the beginning then it aimed to collect any and all

material relating to Ireland. In this way material that is now

of great value to genealogists was gathered in the Linen

Hall. However, it was not until 1983 that the decision was

taken to bring all such material together and to create the

definitive Linen Hall Library Genealogical Collection with its own catalogue and its own classification.

Reasons for this tardy recognition of an important and

growing area of research are readily understandable -

lack

of space, lack of personnel and lack of financial resources

have perennially affected what libraries can do. There was

also the very pertinent question as to whether genealogical research is a legitimate field of endeavour for any but the

most specialised of libraries. Even today because of its

detailed nature many public libraries fight shy of dedicating scarce resources to what can

arguably be termed a minority interest.

In the Linen Hall Library, however, it was agreed that

there was an identifiable and growing interest in genealogical research among our members and users: and also that there

was within the library a body of material of great value to

those researchers. In addition the political and economic

climate of the times was in our favour - government had

recently begun jobcreation schemes to help train people for

future employment. Under an 'Action for Community

Employment' scheme we were able to get four extra staff

members for a period of some three to four years and with

this extra staff we co-located all material within the library

relating to genealogy. We also created our own classification scheme for this

collection. Using the appropriate main class from the

Dewey Decimal Classification (929) we expanded this

class according to the special requirements of the collection

thus:

929 Genealogy -

General works and guides to insti

tutions which undertake genealogical research

929.1 Collected family histories-e.g., Norfolk families,

Scottish families 929.2 Individual family histories 929.3 Births, marriages and deaths

929.31 Births and christenings 929.32 Marriages 929.33 Deaths, obituaries and memorials

929.34 Deaths, tombstone inscriptions 929.35 Wills and other probate records

929.4 Names

929.41 Christian names

929.42 Surnames

929.43 Placenames

929.5 Military lists 929.51 Religious lists 929.52 Educations lists 929.53 Political lists 929.54 Other lists 929.6 Emigration 929.61 Passenger lists

929.7 Peerage and baronetage 929.71 Gentry and other land owners

929.72 Royalty 929.8 Heraldry 929.81 Coats of Arms

929.82 Crests. Seals and Badges 929.83 Orders and Decorations

929.84 Flags 929.9 Land Records

929.91 Hearthmoney Rolls

It was found that the collection comprised some 5,000

volumes both manuscript and printed. These books came

to us in different ways. Many were purchased in the normal

way by generations of librarians, some were donated by authors grateful for the assistance given them by the library: but some of the most important books and manuscripts came to us as donations from former governors of the

library. In 1908. the library of Lavens H Ewart was deposited in

the Linen Hall Library. It comprised some 3.500 volumes,

many of which have now been transferred to the genealogical collection. Ew art was the second son of Sir William Ewart

the linen baron: he was a co-founder of the second series o\'

the Ulster Journal of Archaeology and a governor of the

Library for many years.

Five years later the library of R R Belshaw. formerly of

Antrim and latterly of Dublin was deposited in the library. It consisted o? some 5,000 volumes containing early Belfast

Printing, Restoration pamphlets and genealogical material.

LINEN HALL REVIEW AUTUMN 1992 PAGE 14

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3 A third such collection came in 1953 from the executors I

of R S Lepper, another governor of the library. It comprised some 1,500 volumes of genealogical, Irish and Scottish

interest.

Then in 1961, Reginald Black wood, President of the

library from 1949-57, bequeathed his manuscript family histories of Co. Down families. These too were added to the

genealogical collection.

Now whilst the Linen Hall Library's collections of

genealogical and heraldic material are very extensive, it

must be stressed that it is a repository of secondary sources.

Quite simply the library does not possess copies of those

civil records, such as the Applotment or Census Returns,

normally and most frequently consulted by genealogists.

Bearing this qualification in mind, however, much of the

material held by the library is both important and extremely useful.

So! What then comprises the Genealogical Collection

of the Linen Hall Library today? To begin with there are the

general guides to Genealogical Research. Clare's guide of

1937 is still useful as is Falley's Irish and Scotch-Irish

Ancestral Research ( 1962). A recent work - Irish Family

History by Marilyn Yurdan published last year by Batsford -

is another useful basic guide and like most of them is

geared towards the beginner. They explain the nature and

extent of the primary sources and detail the repositories in

which these can be found. There are three shelves of such

works.

For those researchers who are lucky enough to belong

to a family with a printed pedigree or family history there

are in the Linen Hall Library some 500 different printed

family histories arranged alphabetically by family name.

The Butlers, the Bagnals, the Chichesters, the

McDonnells, the Lesleys, the Montgomerys, the O'Briens,

the O'Neills and the Savages all have published or privately

printed works concerning their ancestors: as do many less

historical names. It is, however, a salutary warning that we

cannot afford to take all assertions in these works as gospel

when for example you find written in pencil on the title page of such a work as the History of the O'Briens by the

Honourable Donagh O'Brien MA, Christ Church, Oxford,

Barrister-at-Law of the Inner Temple, London and Fellow

of the Irish Genealogical Research Society the message: This book is so full of nonsense that it is not worth attempt

ing to correct the mistakes therein.' What makes this

unsolicited inscription so interesting is that it is almost

certainly in the handwriting of Reginald Blackwood, the

former President of the library already mentioned. Volumes

like McLysaght and De Breffny are useful quick reference

tools telling us which families have their own published or

printed family histories. Printed registers of births, marriages and deaths,

gravestone inscriptions and indexes to wills are useful

sources for genealogical research and there are some 350

such volumes on open access in the library. A complete

collection of the publications of the Harleian Society are

complemented by works such as The Registers of the

Church ofStMichan, Dublin 1636-1700 which form Vols

3 and 7 of the Parish Register Society of Dublin; and the

typescript of The Baptismal and Marriage Registers of the

Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Congregation of Clough,'

Co. Down 1791-1934, transcribed from the original registers

is an example of an item that augments published holdings..

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This list of claims seeking to upset the Williamite

settlement, is in any case a valuable source of

information on old Irish families. It is doubly useful because it includes hand written annotations with

regard to the outcome of each case

One very useful source for births, marriages and deaths

is the library ' s own Index to same extracted from the Belfast

News Letter from 1738-1864 when civil registration became

law. Entries can give useful, often colourful, information

leading to further avenues of research -

such as the entry for

Captain Feeney who died on 6 January 1789. The extract

states that he was 'captain of the Killymount gang about 30

years ago. He had been for many years a tide-waiter at Ross

...,' or for Joseph Clotworthy who died on 29 April 1783:

4In the procession at laying the first stone of the Belfast

White Linen Hall last Monday, JC, High Priest of Lodge No

272, an old man, dropped dead.'

Here are three further clues to the life and career of

Joseph Clotworthy - it is very possible that J. C. was a

contributor to and proprietor of the White Linen Hall - this

is verifiable and will give clues as to his occupation. His

membership of a masonic lodge can also be checked and

give light to his career therein. Less exact is the reference

- an old man.

Books of names are of general rather than specific use

- Christian names, surnames and placenames. These can

VOLUME 9 NUMBER 2 PAGE 15

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3 help in locating areas and localities in which certain names

predominate. My own name - Killen

- is said by one

authority to originate in Mayo -

members of the family

migrated to County Offaly where there are three townlands

called Ballykilleen. However, another derivation of the

name suggests that we were mercenaries who came over

from Scotland to fight as Gallowglasses for the McDonnells

of Antrim. (Either is acceptable!) Recently Robert Bell of the Linen Hall Library researched (and Blackstaff Press

published) the book of Ulster Surnames; giving the origin of some 2,500 names.

We come now to books of lists - military, religious,

educational, political and passenger lists. There are some

two hundred volumes of army, navy and militia lists. These

give valuable local as well as national information. For

instance from the List of Officers in the several regiments

and independent troops and companies of militia in Ireland

printed in Dublin in 1761 the regiments in each county are listed. With local knowledge it is easy from this listing to

work out which regiment operated in what area of the

county from the names of the colonel, the major, the

captains, lieutenants and ensigns. It is amazing how many

of the names are still represented in each locality.

Clergy lists follow. Leslie and Swanzy's works on the

clergy of the different diocese are in Ireland well known and

heavily used. The set in the Linen Hall Library is particularly useful in that additional information has been added in

pencil by Blackwood, who also inserted newspaper cuttings about the different clerics. A copy of the manuscript 'Fasti

of the Irish Presbyterian Church' is also of value to

genealogical researchers and historians. I used it extensively in my research into the history of the Linen Hall Library and found that in the first half of the nineteenth century librarians undertook the work to tide themselves over while studying to be ministers in the Presbyterian Church.

College registers also are very useful sources and

Burtchaell and Sadleir's Alumni Duhlinenses are familiar.

Other colleges to be covered include the major English,

Scottish and Irish schools. A mammoth work published in the last few years, and one which must set the guidelines for

all further such volumes, is Paul Fry's Methodist College

Belfast Register 1868-1984, which gives the name of the

pupil, date of birth, parent's address, school career and post

school career, including if known date of death.

Lists of electors have a similar value and when perused

nowadays give us interesting sidelights not just into

genealogy but also into the development of our democratic

system. The List of the Electors of the Borough of Belfast who voted at the General Election, 1865, (published in

1866) tells us many things. For instance, there was no

secret voting in this election because the voters list is

arranged in alphabetical order in each ward, showing for

whom they voted. It is interesting to conjecture whether

pressure could be put on voters in this manner; but that is not

our main concern. The list of voters shows that William

Killen of Dock Ward voted for Lord John Hay. William

Killen, no relation, was porter in the White Linen Hall

during the 1860's; and incidentally he backed the wrong horse in this particular race.

Passenger lists constitute a small section in our collection.

Chief amongst them is the seven volume set of Famine

Immigrants the lists of Irish Immigrants arriving at the Port

of New York 1846-1851, edited by Ira Glazier and Michael

Tepper. These give the name of the ship, the date and port

from which it left, the name of the passenger, his/her age and occupation. At the back of each volume is an alphabetical

personal name index. Of interest to all genealogists but

especially those in the Northern and North Western counties

is Mitchell's Irish Passenger Lists 1847-1871 which deals with those passengers sailing from Londonderry to America

during those years. Unfortunately these lists refer only to

two shipping lines, the J J Cooke Line and the McCorkell Line. The information given is also less detailed.

Published lists of landowners and Griffiths land valuation

give similar information and for the period of the middle of the last century are invaluable sources. These are on open

access in the library*s genealogical collection. We have

hard copy volumes of Griffiths only for the northern counties:

the rest are on microfilm. Of an earlier vintage but equally

important are the published Hearth Money Rolls dating from 1663. These as you will appreciate are quite rare but

Antrim, Monaghan, Tipperary and Dublin have been

published. The Dublin volume is of double interest as it deals with a considerable proportion of County Kildare

which was formerly within the confines of County Dublin.

Also, on open access in the Linen Hall Library's

Genealogical Collection is an extensive collection of Belfast

and Ulster Directories dating from 1806 to the present day: also a fairly good collection of Piggots and Thorns directories. These cannot be ignored in genealogical

research.

Two collections which also cannot be ignored but

which are very difficult to gain the relevant information

from in any quick or efficient way are Irish newspapers and

magazines. In both are printed lists of births, marriages and

deaths of people from all walks of life. Unfortunately with the exception of our own Belfast News Letter index, and a

few other indexes to local papers, this potentially rich

resource is unindexed.

One source which is well indexed and which 1 referred

to earlier is the Blackwood collection. This manuscript collection comprises some 120 volumes of manuscript

family histories containing some 1200 individual family trees. They are mainly Co. Down families but some Antrim

families are included.

Finally, we must remember that all and any work of

history but more particularly local history can yield

genealogical information or give clues to further research.

Diaries are often a good source and one which can give

quite startling information, reminding us all that when we

launch the ship of genealogical research we know not

whither it may lead us. The following undoubtedly gave some family history researcher a useful lead but also

something of a problem as to its final presentation. It is

from the typescript of Ainsworth Pilson's diary of

Downpatrick which he kept from 1799 and 1849. This extract is dated 27 October 1801 and reads: 'Hanna Newell,

Aunt of John Saul, brought forth another son today, her

husband being absent in America since December 1797.'

As I say, a definite lead in the genealogy of the Newell

family: but something of a problem all the same.

That, then, is a brief description of the Linen Hall

Library's Genealogical Collection. Visitors are welcome

but keep in mind that these are mainly secondary sources

and must be used in conjunction with the resources of the

record offices.

LINEN HALL REVIEW AUTUMN 1992 * PAGE 16

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