February 2023 MBR The Genealogy Shelf

The Genealogy Shelf

Researching Scots-Irish Ancestor, second edition
William J. Roulston
Ulster Historical Foundation
c/o Genealogical Publishing Company
3600 Clipper Mill Road, Suite 229, Baltimore, MD 21211
www.genealogical.com
9781909556652, $34.95, PB, 640pp

https://www.amazon.com/Researching-Scots-Irish-Ancestors-essential-genealogical/dp/1909556653

Synopsis: When the first edition of "Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors: The essential genealogical guide to early modern Ulster, 1600-1800" appeared in 2005 it was quickly recognized as an essential work of reference for family historians researching Ulster ancestors in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It filled an important gap in providing reliable guidance on sources for perhaps the most critical period in understanding a family's links with the north of Ireland.

This is territory where some family historians fear to tread. But they need not. This newly updated and expanded second edition of "Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors" opens up avenues for research; drawing attention to the riches of archives inside and outside of the island of Ireland, demonstrating the benefit of often undervalued, rare, even quite unconventional, yet accessible sources if you know where to look which can help document your ancestors back to the 1600s.

At more than twice the size of the original, this new second edition is a massively expanded version of the first volume. It includes additional information on church records and landed estate papers, as well as new chapters looking at records relating to law and order, emigration, business and occupations, diaries and journals, and clubs and societies.

The extensive appendices to the book include a summary breakdown of the sources available from this period for every parish in the historic nine counties of Ulster (including a listing of surviving pre-1800 church records); a detailed description of around 350 collections of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century landed estate papers; and a listing of more than 500 towns and villages in Ulster with parish locations.

Whether your ancestors are of English, Scottish or Gaelic Irish background, whether their religious affiliation was Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic or other, whether they were farmers, merchants or labourers, this volume will be of enormous value to anyone wishing to find out more about their Ulster roots.

Critique: An indispensable and essential reference and reserach resource for anyone researching Scots-Irish ancestors of the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries, "Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors: The essential genealogical guide to early modern Ulster, 1600-1800: 2nd Edition" is unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Genealogy collections.

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