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Genealogy


If you are looking to trace your family history or find out about the place that your ancestors came from, Mayo County Library is your first stop.

As well as holding numerous resources in paper and on microfilm at our Local Studies Department in Castlebar, we provide links to the two Family History Centres in the county.  

The standard book on Irish genealogy is Tracing your Irish Ancestors by John Grenham (Gill Books, 2019). Brian Smith has written a short book, Tracing your Mayo Ancestors (Flyleaf Press, 2019) which is available in all our library branches 

 

 

  • 1901 Census Database

    A searchable data base containing information transcribed from the 1901 census of Ireland can be searched at http://www.leitrim-roscommon.com/1901census/.

    The data base is now complete for Counties Mayo, Roscommon, Leitrim and Sligo and partially complete for County Galway.    

     

  • Census of Ireland 1901 & 1911 for Co. Mayo

    Names of every individual in each house giving their age, religion, occupation, marital status, relationship to head of household, ability to read and write and ability to speak Irish. 


    The censuses of Ireland, 1901 & 1911 are available online on the National Archives website searchable by all information categories

     

     

  • External Resources
  • Griffith's Valuation 1855-1857

     Lists of all property holders in each townland in County Mayo, the person from whom the property was leased and the size of the holding. Griffith's Valuation is available online on the askaboutireland website. 

  • Other Sources

    Other sources that are held in our Local Studies Department in Castlebar include: 

    • Parish Records - Burrishoole, Achill, Ballycroy, Kilbeagh  

    • Methodist Baptismal Records: 
      Castlebar 1829 - 1954 
      Belmullet 1851 - 1861 
      Westport 1853 - 1862 

    • Tithe Applotment Books from the 1830s - A record of property holders in each parish and the amount of tax levied for the upkeep of the established church. Some parishes incomplete. (microfilm) 

    • Gravestone Inscriptions - Castlebar Old Cemetery, Meelick Old & Meelick New Cemetery, Bushfield, Bonnifinglas and Ballinrobe  

     

  • Where do you start?

    Genealogy Records for Mayo are held at two major research centres: The North Mayo Family Heritage centre near Crossmolina and the South Mayo Family Research Centre in Ballinrobe. A database of the centres’ records covering Birth/Baptism and Marriages and Death records from 1850 approx. to 1900 can be accessed at Mayo Ancestors  

    Records cover pre-1901:  

    • Church and Civil records of Marriages 

    • Church records of Baptisms and Civil records of Birth and 

    • Church Records of Burials and Civil Records of Deaths 

    Church records have various starting dates, depending on the Parish or Congregation while Civil records generally start in 1864 apart from non-Roman Catholic marriages which commenced in 1845. Records for several Church of Ireland parishes were, completely or partially, destroyed in the Records Office Fire of 1922.  

    Further information available at the North Mayo Heritage Centre Ltd. and South Mayo Family Research Centre http://www.rootsireland.ie/mayo-south-family-research-centre/ websites. 

     

     

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