Home > Resources > Family Search > Library > Other Sources

Sources in Other Centres in Donegal
 
Registrar of Births, Marriages & Deaths
Civil registration of vital records only began in January 1864; prior to that date the local Church of Ireland minister, as the representative of the Established Church, was responsible for registering births.
The Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths for County Donegal are kept at St. Conals Hospital, Letterkenny. Tel 074 9124576.
 
Donegal County Archives
 
Since the early days of the library service in County Donegal, the County Library had been entrusted with the records of public bodies in the County Boards of Guardians, Rural District Councils etc.  In addition, a number of manuscripts and sets of private papers had been given to the Library.  For many years these were located in unsuitable accommodation, in the basement of Lifford Courthouse.  Between 1986 and 1993 the County Archive Centre was located in purpose-designed accommodation in the Courthouse; the Archives is now based in the Three Rivers Centre Lifford.  Contact Niamh Brennan, Archivist, 074 -9172490.
 
Donegal County Archives - Poor Law Guardian Records
 
County Donegal is fortunate in having a reasonably comprehensive collection of Poor Law Guardian Records.  These are now held in the County Archives.
 
There were 8 Boards of Guardians in Donegal, covering the Poor Law Unions of Ballyshannon, Donegal, Dunfanaghy, Glenties, Inishowen, Letterkenny, Milford and Stranorlar.  Parts of the east of the County were included in Derry and Strabane Unions, but their records are not held in Lifford. 
Reasonably complete runs of Minute Books survive for each of the Unions, except for Donegal Union.  The Minute Books run to over 30 metres and they date from the 1840s to 1923. 
 
As well as the Minute Books the following may be of use in genealogical research:
 
     Punishment Book 1879 c.1900: 165 entries giving name, offence and punishment: no details of location.
Ballyshannon Poor Law Union
 
Clothing Receipt Book(April 1905-September 1924).
 
Donegal Poor Law Union
Indoor Admission and Discharge Book (1919-21).
Indoor Relief Register (March 1914-September 1924) (possibly for Donegal PLU).
Dunfanaghy Poor Law Union
 
Indoor Relief Register (1856-1915) (probably for Dunfanaghy PLU). 5,000 names with age, address, religion, occupation and date of discharge or death.
 
Glenties Poor Law Union
 
Workhouse Admission Register, December 1850-October 1866).  4,960 names giving age, occupation, religion, location, date of admission and discharge.
Workhouse Admission Register(1884-96) (BG92/G/3).  5,000 names.
 
Indoor Relief Register (1914-1921).
 
Separate register (September 1913-March 1922) giving full name, address, age, occupation and religion for individuals admitted to or discharged from the Fever Hospital or Infirmary.
 
Indoor Relief Register (1907).  5,140 names.
 
   Inishowen Poor Law Union
Workhouse Admission Register (September 1849-May 1859) (BG97/G/2). 5,000 names.  At the back of the book there are lists of orphans and deserted children hired out of the Workhouse (May 1853 and 1 January 1857 1 January 1858), noting name, person to who hired and employment (mainly herding cattle).
 
Indoor Relief Register (1899-1907) (BG97/G/5). 5,000 names.
 
Outdoor Relief, Admission and Discharge Book (1901-11), (probably Inishowen PLU), including name of person, or head of family relieved and amount of relief allowed.
 
Workhouse Admission Register (1907-11) (possibly Inishowen Workhouse) (BG97/G/6). 5,000 names.
 
Indoor Relief Register (1911-1918). 5,000 names.
 
     Letterkenny Poor Law Union
 
Outdoor Relief Register (1855-64) (BG109/EA/1). 1,870 names.
 
Workhouse Admission Register (1864-77) (BG109/E/1).  4,120 names.
 
Outdoor Relief Register (1899-November 1921) (possibly Letterkenny). 1,993 names.
 
Indoor Relief Register (1919-1922) (possibly Letterkenny, but including Ramelton, Rathmullan, Dunfanaghy). 1,024 names.
 
Milford Poor Law Union+
              
Report Book of Visiting Committee (6 April 1846-25 May 1912).
 
Outdoor Relief Register (December 1847-1899) (BG119/EA/1).  2,160 names.
 
Workhouse Admission Register (1855-75) (BG119/G/1).  4,000 names.
 
Workhouse Indoor Register (1880-97) (BG119/G/3). 5,000 names.
 
Stranorlar Poor Law Union
Dispensary Committee Minute Book (March 1852-1899).
 
+Check the website www.askaboutireland.ie for a comprehensive article on Milford PLU 
 
 
B 1 Donegal County Archives Other Primary Sources
 
Grand Juries
Grand Juries had both local government and judicial functions; the Archives hold a significant amount of the former type:
 
ca. 30 volumes of Grand Jury Presentments, proposals, discharges etc., dating from ca. 1840-1890, including a volume (1807-9) with lavish annotation and manuscript.
 
Grand Jury Public Orders (1831) with manuscript annotations.
 
Local Authorities
The County Archive Centre holds records of the County Council and of the (now defunct) Rural District Councils.  These run to more than 30 metres but do not appear to contain much material of use in genealogical research.  Individual items, such as the registers of motorcars from 1902 on, and some rent/rate books, would be of interest to the social historian. The County Archives also holds the Minute Book of Co. Donegal Branch of Irish Medical Association 1903-1977.
 
Estate Records
The other major resource held by the County Archive Centre is the collection of estate records.  These hold information relating to tenants on the estates, and such information can be invaluable where no other details survive.  The collection is by no means comprehensive and has been put together by donation, purchase and, on some occasions, the adoption of the finders keepers rule.  The collection includes:
 
Maps of Altahalla and Clehagh by John H. Brophy CE, Waterford 1865.
 
R.H. Nolan and Company (Londonderry) Valuation of Donegal Estate of Burton Irwin Esq (1882-3) giving names of tenants.
 
Bound volume of photostat copies of maps of lands in the barony of Kilmacrennan, Co. Donegal, estate of Robert Clements Esq., surveyed 1779 by David McCool, scale 20 plantation perches, one inch, 65pp: gives names and lessees.
 
Printed Rental and particulars of sale (landed estate courts) Harvey Estate, Gransha, Trillick, Ludden etc., Inishowen, Co. Donegal, 18 March 1879.
 
Book of maps of Alexander Murray Esqs estate in Co. Donegal. 1749-50 This is described as a book of survey and valuation&.land in the County of Donegal, part of the estate of Alexander Murray Esq of North Britain taken by the advance of Captain James Murray of Co. Monaghan by John Bell of Cootehill, Co. Cavan, Land Surveyor in the year 1749.
 
Volume of maps of part of the estate of Alexander Murray Esq in Co. Donegal as directed by Murray Babington Esq and surveyed by William Rutledge, David Johnston, Irvine Aiken and Thomas Elliott, 1813-14, for G. Montgomery (brown volume of photostat copies).
 
Receivers Rental and Account 1852 (in the case of Murray v. Scarborough): 1614 names of tenants with townland locations and details of rent due and arrears.
 
Rentals for Irish Estates of H.G. Murray Stewart Esq in the parishes of Killymard, Killybegs Upper and Lower, Killaghtee and Inishkeel, Co. Donegal, 1852, 1865,1876,1880,1885-6,1890-91,1869-70.
 
Photostat copies (bound) of William Pettys  Down Survey of Counties Donegal and Londonderry from NLI.
 
Account Book of Irish and Scotch Estates 1859-61, 1858-9. 
 
Bound volume of photocopies of 1641 depositions for Co. Donegal.
 
Tel: 074-9172490 
 
Donegal Ancestrys Genealogical Service
 
Donegal Ancestry Ltd. is the official Irish Family History Foundation centre for County Donegal.  It aims to provide a comprehensive genealogical research service to personal callers and enquirers by post, telephone, and internet.  It offers a range of feepaying services. Contact Donegal Ancestry, The Quay, Ramelton. Tel  074 9151266. Website http://indigo.ie/~donances 
 
Donegal Ancestry has computerised and indexed a range of civil, church and land records:
 
Civil Records
 
The Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths for Donegal are the responsibility of the North Western Health Board.  They date from 1864, and so do not cover the Famine and pre-Famine period, which is of so much interest to descendents of Donegal people in North America and Australia.
 
The General Register Office in Dublin holds master indexes to all the Registers, and microfilm copies of the original, and is open to the public for research.  It is advisable to have as much information as possible to hand before beginning a search of the Registers, to cut down on time and costs.
 
B 2.Church Records
 
Because of the destruction of the Census records for 1821, 1831, 1841, 1851 in the Four Courts fire in 1922 (those for 1861 and 1871 had not been kept), and the fact that civil registration began only in 1864, Church records are especially important in Ireland.  In the case of Donegal church records, especially Roman Catholic ones, are remarkable for their paucity.  The oldest RC records in the County are those for Clonleigh (Lifford) which began in 1773, but this is unusual.  For large and prosperous parishes such as Letterkenny and Stranorlar, for instance, they began in 1853 and 1860 respectively, and in Gleann Cholm Cille they began only in 1880.  The situation with Presbyterian and Church of Ireland records is considerably better, the oldest Presbyterian records date from 1806 (?), and the oldest Church of Ireland from 1691 (Drumholm).
 
The Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist records, and some of the Roman Catholic records have been indexed by Donegal Ancestry, as part of the Irish Genealogical Project.
 
 

Note:  In the Roman Catholic Church the Diocese of Raphoe is wholly contained in the County; Inishowen, and part of East Donegal along the River Finn is part of the Diocese of Derry (11 parishes in total); and two parishes in the Southern part of the County are in the Diocese of Clogher. 
In the Church of Ireland the County is part of the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe. 
Presbyterian congregations in the County combine in the Donegal Presbytery, except for those in Inishowen, which are in the Derry Presbytery area.
The Methodist Circuits in the County are part of the Enniskillen and Sligo District.