THOMAS GORMLEY

Hi there,

You have a fascinating story about Thomas. There is a lot of very interesting information there, so hopefully we can offer some more information about his origins in Ireland too.

Do you know what religion he was?

Presbyterian registers are held in three main locations: in local custody, in the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Belfast. PRONI has microfilm copies of almost all registers in Northern Ireland and also lists of records held by the Presbyterian Historical Society. For the rest of Ireland, almost all records are in local custody. It can difficult to locate these as many congregations in the South have moved, amalgamated, or simply disappeared over the last sixty years.

Church of Ireland parish registers for the period up to 1870 are public records. Registers are available for about one third of the parishes, however many were destroyed in the Public Records Office in Dublin in 1922. Most are still held by the local clergy, although some are in the National Archives of Ireland and others are in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. A list of all surviving registers is available in the National Archives. http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/.

There are Roman Catholic church records available for the diocese of Banagher (Derry). These date from 1848 for baptismal records and 1851 for marriage records. You can find these at the National Library of Ireland (NLI), Pos. 5764, or the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI), MIC.1D/59. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for more assistance.

You could also try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) or the later Griffith's Valuation (1848-64). Griffith's is freely available here: www.askaboutireland.com or here: www.failteromhat.com Failte Romhat has lots of other useful links you could try looking at.Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38). Microfilm copies of the books for all of Ireland are available at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/tithe-applotment-books-and-the-primary-griffith-valuation/ or the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS).

You can check for information about the frequency of the name in the mid-19th century and any other variant spellings of the name here: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/

1796: Spinning Wheel Premium Entitlement Lists This was part of a government scheme to encourage the linen trade, free spinning wheels or looms were granted to individuals planting a certain area of land with flax. The lists of those entitled to the awards, covering almost 60,000 individuals, were published in 1796, and record only the names of the individuals and the civil parish in which they lived. The majority, were in Ulster, but some names appear from every county except Dublin and Wicklow. A microfiche index to the lists is available in the National Archives, and in PRONI. There are 4,900 names listed for Derry.

1797-1804 Yeomanry muster rolls. PRONI T1021/3. Also LDS film 993910.

1808-13 Freeholders. National Archives of Ireland (NAI) M.6199.

1813 Freeholders NAI M.6199

1833-39 Emigrants list. Brian Mitchell. 'Emigrants Lists'. Originals in PRONI, MIC.6.

1840 Freeholders. PRONI D834/1 www.proni.gov.uk/freeholders

Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

Kind regards,

Sinead Cooney

Genealogist (Ireland XO)