Hello Boyd and CTI subscribers, For any who are unaware of Boyd Gray’s presence on the genealogical scene, he is a professional genealogist and a tour de force who maintains a friendly and informative Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/westulstergenealogy/ which is an absolute joy and full of great stories and topics. He has also produced a series of informative Youtube family history workshops http://www.cotyroneireland.com/videos/monreagh.html and http://www.cotyroneireland.com/videos/monreagh.html
Although Boyd resides in Lifford, Co. Donegal, just across the Foyle from Strabane, he specialises in Donegal, Tyrone and Londonderry family history research. It is my greatest good luck to maintain an off-list correspondence with him. If not for Boyd’s appreciative comments and support, I may have drawn a line under my project to index the Co. Tyrone tithe applotment books. As stated in my previous post on this topic, the response to these indexes from CTI List Subscribers has been a deafening silence, but as a professional genealogist Boyd recognises these taxation records as a valuable resource and I commend them to every researcher. They are important. Many thanks, Boyd. The microfilmed tithe books are available for consultation only at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), Belfast or online at a LDS Family History Centre. They record leaseholders of agricultural land; they do not generally contain genealogical data apart from details such as “widow”, “senior” or “junior”, but they do record the presence of possibly your forebear in a townland a whole generation prior to the c1860 Griffiths Valuation. The online indexes on CTI http://www.cotyroneireland.com/tithe/titheindex.html eliminate a great amount of time trawling through original images searching for the relevant townland which can be, at times, almost illegible. I can assure CTI Listers that the indexes I submit contain identical information (including phonetic spelling) as recorded on the originals of the 1820s and 1830s and in a legible format. The tithe books are most important as they record many leaseholders who sold their leases and emigrated during the desperate times and harsh economic years of the Great Famine 1845-52. I hope everyone is successful in locating an ancestor or a close relation of your emigrant forebear. Regards and best of luck, Len Swindley, Melbourne, Australia [cid:[email protected]] Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10
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