Roscommon Family History Society's
information page.
COUNTY ROSCOMMON FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY.
The society was formed in 1993 as a non profit society, the aims of the society were;
To record and preserve information related to County Roscommon People.
To Publish information on, about, and in connection with County Roscommon.
To build and maintain a library of such information and make this available through this web site.
We operate as a non-government funded Society, run entirely on donations, and the free time donated by the volunteer's.
Please Note that the Society are in no form, related to, connected with, or have any dealings with, the Irish Genealogical Project centre at Strokestown in County Roscommon.
The society's Library has grown over the years to include information such as the following;
Family Records...........Birth data.............Family Trees.............Photographs............Church records
Census records...........Maps....................Emigration data.........Heraldry..................Convict records
Register of Names.......Exchange journals.............................Land records.
Local Publications.......Graveyard inscriptions.......................Marriage records.....Death data
Historical information............Foreign records.................Wills.
We hope to display some of this information through this site
Journals. From 1993 to 2001, the society published five journals a year, containing information on Roscommon history, Roscommon people, past and present, Results of the on-going research. It also contained records of marriages, birth, deaths, census records, information on folklore, family trees, and much, much more. Due to lack of funding and time constrants this service has now ceased
We also published results of research done by members of the society, these are now only avaliable to the public through the Roscommon County Library.
We published the following titles;
Freeholders of Roscommon, index of Surnames, 1830
Freeholders of Roscommon, index of Surnames, 1831-33
Freeholders of Roscommon, index of Surnames, 1839
Convictions in Roscommon,1830-1832
Births, Deaths & Marriages, 1848-1854 (extracts from newspapers)
Births, Deaths & Marriages, 1855-1859 (extracts from newspapers)
Kelly Collection, Notes on family of-
Roscommon Soldiers who died in World War 1. (Irish Regiments)
Roscommon People (Strays from other sources)
Unfortunately we no longer have anyone working as secretary or full time researcher for the society so this site is the only available resource. We Will continue to update and provide further information on this site as and when time permits. We are sorry we have had to make this decision but there is only so much you can do without funding.
The county of Roscommon came about from an area known as the "Kings Cantred" which an area slightly larger than present day Roscommon. The county was known as Roscommon from about the mid 1500's as one of the first references in court papers date from the late 14th century, it was set up similar to the English "shire" system. This shiring system was brought about by Sir Henry Sydney, who in 1566 had bridges built across the River Shannon at Athlone and the river Suck at Ballinasloe, thus opening up the west for the English armies to try to control.
The JUDICIAL shire or county of Roscommon is mentioned at the Inquisition taken at Roscommon town on the 16th July 1607, which set out the boundaries of the county. The boundaries stayed more or less the same until 1848, when under Government acts, four townlands from the parish of Castlemore and two townlands from the Parish of Kilcolman in Mayo were transferred to the Barony of Frenchpark in North county Roscommon.
The boundaries were changed again under the Local Government (Ireland) Acts of 1898, which changed the boundaries from a Judicial county into an ADMINISTRATION county. This change meant that the county as known at the time (1895-98) changed to incorperate areas of Mayo and Galway and to exclude the area of the towns of Athlone and Ballinasloe.
The area taken from Mayo was an area around Ballaghadreen and Edmondstown and included the following townlands;
Ardkill, Attiantaggart, Ballaghadeereen, Ballymaging or Castlemore, Ballyoughter, Barnaboy, Bockagh, Boghtaduff, Bohalas, Boleysillagh, Brogher,Calveagh Upper & Lower, Cashelard, Cashelcolaun, Cloonavullaun, Cloonlumney, Cloonmeen,Coolaghtane, Coollena, Creggan, Cross North & South, Crunaun, Currunah, Derrynacross, Derrynagur, Derrynanaff, Doogary, Drumacoo, Drumnalassan, Fallsollus, Frasnadeffa, Friarshill, Glebe, Gortanure, Hawksford, Ishlaun, Islandmore, Largan, Kilcolman, Kilkeeran, Killadangan, Kilvanloon, Knockanaconny, Lung, Magheraboy, Pollboy, Tonregee, Toobrackan,Toomanagh, Tullaghanmore or Edmondstown Demesne, Tullaghanrock.
The area from Galway included the following townlands;
Bracklin, Carrowkeel, Carrownaglogh, Cartron, Coolroghaun, Cornaveagh, Derrhippoo, Dunamon, Garraun North & South, Kilbegnet, Lisduff, Oughtagh, Rosmoylan, Shanballyeden, Tonamaddy.
Due to this change in counties it can cause many researchers tracing family history in these areas many headaches when trying to pinpoint archived records.
Roscommon county went through a major up-heaval during the Cromwellian years (mid 1600's) as it was one of the counties reserved for the " habatation of the Irish Nation" under the Act of 1653. by order of the Commissioners of the Parliament of England for the Affairs of Ireland, dated 14th october 1653, " all persons having the right to favour and mercy were to remove and transplant themselves into the province of Connacht and county of clare before 1st May 1654". This in effect meant that many Irish families were uprooted from their lands and moved into the province of Connacht. This period was known as the Transplantation of Connacht and many families that lost their lands in other parts of Ireland ended up in the western counties. After Cromwells death and Charles II was returned to the English throne, many of the transplanted land-owners petitioned for their lands to be returned, many were successful and left the county, but a few remained and their decendants are still here.
To add to the problems finding lands in the county, many of the Baronies within the county changed size and shape over time, finally settling into the present form in 1898, also townlands were swapped between parishes as a means to pay tithes, with a townland or two being incorporated into an adjoining parish if that parish was not as affluent as its neighbour.
Thank You.
the Mission Hall in the Background, now
a private residence.