West Ulster Genealogy Services

25/04/2026

MOAN, MOAN, WHINGE WHINGE

Is it just me, maybe grumpy old man syndrome, or is the new 1926 Census website a very poor effort? I don't mean the census itself which is excellent, I mean the new website. And I am not talking about the lack of any info on Northern Ireland, we already knew that they had managed to lose theirs so there would be no info on them.

So, what are my gripes?

1. Why is there a new website at all, instead of using the old 1901 and 1911 website, which we know and love?

2. Why is the new website so insipid, unlike the pretty 1901/1911 original?

3. Why can we not search by the same fields as the old one:
- age
- county of origin
- marital status
- occupation?
All of these have proved invaluable to me in the past.

4. One of my biggest gripes is that I used to find a family and then click "Show all information" and then simply copy ALL the information on the webpage and paste it into every member of the family. Easy peasy. Now this is the palaver you need to go through to do that:
- Find the family
- Click "Download household"
- Click OK
- Delete top row which is a mess when copied and unnecessary
- Delete several columns which are either empty of contain unnecessary information that again only serves to confuse
- Click select all
- and finally copy and paste.

5. What's with the maps? They certainly are not anything like the good ole Griffiths Valuation maps. Okay, I know that no one in 1926 attempted to do maps but why raise our hopes with the words "census 1926 map"?

Maybe I am missing something, please help me to iron out some of my concerns.

01/04/2026

TWO EASTER CONUNDRUMS (or should that be conundra?!)

I am currently researching the McKeegans of Glenaan and Falmacrilly in the beautiful Glens of Antrim. It is a very large complicated and extended family and I am doing my best to extricate my McKeegans from all the rest who, yes, may be cousins but are not directly related.

I have come across two puzzles which are.... erm... puzzling me and would appreciate the thoughts of others, especially those who have worked with the Griffiths Valuation and its Revision Books. Have a look at the pics and see if you can help me resolved these issues.

20/03/2026

LIFE IS FULL OF LITTLE DISAPPOINTMENTS

I am currently researching the Kelly family for Catherine in Glasgow. Her great great great grandfather, William Kelly, 1823-1901, held Plot 10 in Drumdeevin, Parish of Kilmanrenan in County Donegal, consisting of 27 acres including a house. Drumdeevin is about 10 miles west of Ramelton. Having researched the family online for several weeks, a visit to the area was essential. I was not expecting too much as I was fairly certain that the family died out with the death of Edward Kelly, 1921-1980, who was probably a bachelor. And I was not disappointed.

On the plus side, I did find the grave of Edward and his parents, James Kelly, 1868-1951, and his second wife, Brigid Bradley, 1882-1947 in Termon graveyard. It is worth noting that the date of James' death on his headstone was wrong but that is not unusual on gravestones where family do not remember the exact date that their folks died. More importantly, I do not have a death cert for Edward as it is too recent to be online (under the 50 year rule), but the fact that no wife is mentioned does suggest, as I expected, that he died unmarried and therefore without children. There was a sister, Susannah, b1917, but she has vanished and even if she married, they would not be Kellys.

The main aim of the trip was to visit the location of the family home, as shown on the Griffiths Valuation map, take some pics and ask around to see if anyone remembered the Kellys. I am usually very lucky with this enterprise but not this time. The GV map, with its accompanying aerial view, suggested that the old homestead was gone, devoured by nature as is often the case. It is not always easy to identify the exact spot before arriving on the scene and I thought I had found it, a lovely old abandoned building. But no, it was not the right one. I eventually located the correct spot but it was down a very boggy lane and I had no wellies with me. However, I did spot an old gable wall on the other side of the field beside the road. Not quite as inspiring as the old abandoned building but, at least I had found it. Catherine can bring her wellies and wander down to see it.

The farm was up a long narrow road so typical of much of Ireland these days. It had no old houses, not inhabited houses at any rate, just half a dozen new "mansions in a field", as I call them. The owners of these are always likely to be new to the area and therefore have no idea of who used to live there. But I was destined not to find out because not one of them had anyone at home. So, no one to ask, and no info on the end of the Kellys. Never mind, better luck next time!

20/03/2026

OLD AGE PENSION CENSUS RETURNS

While some Irish folks claimed that they could prove their age by their memory of this event, in reality, if you wanted to claim your old age pension after it was introduced for 70 year olds and over on 1st January 1909, you needed more than this and since civil records of birth only started in 1864, and church records were usually missing, that meant applying to the census records office in Dublin and asking if you appeared in the 1841 or 1851 census.

These forms have been collected in both Dublin and Belfast and, since we no longer have any censuses for the 19th century as they were destroyed in the Four Courts fire of 1922, they contain some very valuable information, IF your folks applied for their pension at some time between 1909 and 1921. You can find them online here:
https://censussearchforms.nationalarchives.ie/search/cs/home.jsp?fbclid=IwAR0uGtXgMtGevnrb3Q4ack576bFiv5jc1E1INA5y6loI6SSV3A_Ms-Uo5Uw
and here:
https://search.findmypast.ie/search-world-records-in-census-land-and-substitutes?_ga=1.123187660.611045321.1411217179&fbclid=IwAR3BhbQ4g321IPjqpIiQQv-vPX8S8YW_tISqQaAKZptdMxYx8ShJAYfAI5U

🌬️ The Night of the Big Wind - 6th–7th January 1839

In the early hours of 6th–7th January 1839, one of the most violent storms ever recorded in Ireland swept across the island with little warning.

Known simply as the “Big Wind,” it struck during Twelfth Night, a date already present in Irish seasonal tradition. In later accounts, some linked the timing to older beliefs about that night, though the destruction itself required no explanation.

The storm began along the Atlantic coast and drove eastward through the night. Hurricane-force winds tore roofs from houses, collapsed gable walls, and levelled cabins. Churches, mills, and outbuildings were damaged or destroyed. Along the coast, ships were wrecked or driven ashore.

Estimates suggest several dozen people lost their lives, though exact numbers remain uncertain. Far more were left without shelter in the middle of winter.

Many accounts describe the experience inside homes. Families sheltered where they could, often beneath tables or in the most stable corners of buildings, as walls shook and roofs lifted away. Survival in some cases came down to position and timing rather than protection.

Weather conditions in the days before had been unsettled. Snowfall was followed by a sudden thaw and unusually mild air. By evening, winds intensified rapidly into a storm that lasted through the night and into the following day. Later analysis suggests a powerful Atlantic system, though those who lived through it had no warning of what was coming.

The term “Big Wind” can sound understated, but the impact was not. It is widely regarded as the most destructive storm in Ireland’s recorded history.

For decades afterwards, it remained a point of reference in everyday life. Events were remembered not by calendar dates, but by whether they happened before or after the Big Wind.



📸 Irish Roots

11/03/2026

ONLINE AND FREE

The 1926 Irish Census, which covers the 26 counties that now comprise the Republic of Ireland (so, NOT Northern Ireland) will go online and free on 18th April this year.

Cannae wait.

HomeNews and eventsCensus 1926 – Public pro... Census 1926- Public Programme 23 October 20253 Min read Census 1926 – Public programme launched First Census of the Irish Free State to be published online on 18 April 2026 “Whether you’re interested in history, genealogy or theatre, our full pr...

06/02/2026

WORKING with STEPHANIE of the CELTIC WAY

This video, which I did with Stephanie Woollard for The Celtic Way Podcast in Australia, gives a very good insight into why we are so fascinated by researching our genealogy and what is possible when researching Irish family history.

We’re delighted to welcome Boyd Gray, the researcher behind ⁠West Ulster Genealogy⁠, to ⁠The Celtic Way ⁠Podcast. Boyd is widely known in Irish genealogy cir...

03/01/2026

A NEW YEAR CONUNDRUM

Grace Clancy, the grandmother in my current project, should have been a slam dunk for the 1911 Census - married and in her 20s, unusual name, not many ways to spell it, definitely never left Ireland - but could I find it? Nope. Can you spot why?

20/12/2025

ARE MY EYES DECEIVING ME?

This is probably the biggest conundrum I have ever come across in 25 years of researching family history.

How can two people, Mary McHugh and Ellen McHugh, be born in 1867 and 1869 respectively, to Manus McHugh and Anne Sweeney, in the townland of Maas, Iniskeel, Co Donegal, and yet manage to appear in the 1851 Census?! Yes, you read that right. They were born in the late 1860s and yet appear in the 1851 Census.

Now, you may be thinking that there IS no census for 1851 and you would be right. But, it did exist until is was destroyed in the 1920s. And if you wanted to prove that you were over 70 years of age, and entitled to the Old Age Pension that was introduced in 1909, then you needed to ask the Census office if you were in the 1841 or 1851 Census, because there were NO birth certificates before 1864.

Those requests have been collected together in large folders in the national archives and are available online here:
https://censussearchforms.nationalarchives.ie/search/cs/index.jsp

So, have a wee look, what am I missing? It has to be something obvious. You cannot be in the 1851 Census if you were not born til 1867 or 1869. And there can surely NOT be two couples called Manus McHugh and Ann Sweeney having children in Maas in the 1850s and 1860s.

13/12/2025

MYSTERY SOLVED!

In the recent post on my genealogy class in Glenties, I wrote that we could not understand why Peter McGeehan, was living in Glenties while his wife, Rose Kennedy was living in Churchill, and why he went off to Glasgow before the 1911 Census, where he died in 1918? Well an observant lady called Angela Kirk messaged me when she saw the post to point out something I had completely missed. In the 1901 Census, under the column "Marriage", Peter McGeehan had written, "Married unfortunately". I think that answers our question!

08/12/2025

TEACHING AT GLENTIES

I had such a good time teaching a group of 12 delightful people at St Connell's Museum and Heritage Centre in Glenties and want to thank them for making me feel so welcome. They were all excellent students, IT competent, adept at researching and very keen to advance their researching skills and either create or enhance their family trees. So impressed were they with GenoPro, the software that I use to construct trees, that most of them bought it.

What made the course even more special was that Glenties is the home of not just one giant of Irish literature but two! And we had members of the class researching both. Two students, Thomas and Amy, were researching the ancestry of the wife of Brian Friel, the renowned playwright who penned "Dancing with Lughnasa" and many other plays. And Mary was descended from McGills so she wanted to see how she was connected to Patrick McGill, the author of "Children of the Dead End" and many other stories. So, have a look and see what progress we made.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the real highlight of my trips to Glenties. Every week, Anne, the museum curator and instigator of the course, treated my good self to a generous slice of her home made lemon drizzle cake. Yummy!!