The Joys of Parish Registers
You never really know what to expect with parish registers - the amount of information can vary by denomination, parish and priest. Some are a joy to read, written very neatly and well organised; others are less fun - they may be slightly faded, pages may have become rearranged or the priest may have gone back to another page if he was short of space, making it difficult to figure out where to find a certain year’s entries. Often the handwriting can be difficult to decipher. But I love looking through the registers because I never know what exciting nuggets of information I might find…
Today I was taking advantage of late night opening at the RCBL, looking at the Church of Ireland parish registers for Carlow parish church. I found the marriage I was looking for, but unfortunately it didn’t include details of any of the parents as I had hoped. However as I worked my way through the burial register, one of the later priests had included a few details about some of his parishioners - usually this would be a mention of their trade or profession - and the following note caught my attention:
1783 May 2d died Mr Henry Woddle, merchant, who acquired a large fortune by his dealings which he bequeathed to several Hospitals in Dublin. He was buried on the 4th in Carlow church yard. His remains were several times insulted by an enraged mob to the place of interment on account of his not considering the poor of that parish where he amassed so much money.
I have also seen registers where priests have commented on people’s religious and moral stature. I was interested to find the following note about one of my family, Mary Hannan, who died in 1903 and who, according to the Kilcommon parish priest, was ‘a gifted intelligent upright woman. Had a good knowledge of God’s word.’ Her husband, Frank, was ‘a joyous man, died as he lived in fear of God‘ and fellow parishioner Joseph Gilbert who died in 1899 aged 86 was described as ‘the last hand-loom weaver in Tinahealy. Respected poor man, being the oldest parishioner at this date in Parish.’
Have you come across any interesting remarks about any of your ancestors? Let me and your fellow readers know by leaving a comment below.
January 9th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
While not related to my own ancestors, I have come across comments such as: “died suddenly while playing cards.” Another gem was a description of a lady who had to be reburied as “her coffin proved insufficiently substantial for her remains.”
Tom