Reviews

Anyone who has had even a brush with Irish genealogical research knows of the difficulties in determining exactly where his or her ancestors lived in the old country. Add to that the challenge of identifying the many civil and ecclesiastical divisions that hold records for the area where the ancestors resided, and soon the head spins with parish names and boundary lines. Books such as John Grenham's Tracing Your Irish Ancestors (LJ 5/15/00. 2d ed.) and James G. Ryan's Irish Records (Ancestry, 1997) aptly define and detail the types of records available from the various divisions and offer some civil and church parish maps. Mitchell, the author of numerous Irish genealogy books, including Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy, complements these books by providing four or five different boundary maps for each county of Ireland. In fact, the author states in his introduction that for the most thorough description of geographical boundaries the book should be used in conjunction with the General Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns, Parishes and Baronies of Ireland (Genealogical, 2000. rev. ed.). Where the first edition of Mitchell's book (1986) provided maps of civil/Church of England parishes, baronies, and Poor Law Unions, the new edition includes maps of Roman Catholic parishes and Presbyterian congregations as they were by the mid-1800s. In addition, general maps highlight the counties and provincial boundaries, dioceses and ecclesiastical provincial boundaries, and probate districts. Readers can move back and forth among the maps for each county to see the boundaries and names of the administrative divisions and how the various divisions overlapped. This provides a more complete vision of what entities had jurisdiction over the areas where their ancestors lived, giving readers a much better idea of where to look for genealogical records. Highly recommended for public and genealogy library collections. Elaine M. Kuhn, Allen Cty. P.L., Ft. Wayne, IN Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.