Map of Drogheda in 1749
NOTE:
The "Council Book of the Corporation of Drogheda Vol 1, From the Year 1649 to 1734", was edited by the Rev. T. Gogarty and printed in Drogheda in 1915. The book records the minutes of meetings held by the Corporation. Some notable events during the above period were the sacking of Drogheda by Cromwell in 1649, the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, the unjust tightening of the liberties of Roman Catholics under the Penal Laws, and the Jacobite Rebellions. There are few explicit references to these events in the minutes though their effects can be seen in the general work of the Corporation. See below for Rev. Gogarty's introduction to the original publication.
One disadvantage of Rev. Gogarty's book is the lack of an index. With this in mind I have compiled a name index with some 7,300 entries, covering approximately 2,500 individuals who lived in Drogheda between 1649 and 1734. A normal index would give only the full name and page number. What is presented in the following pages is an unedited version of my index giving the Surname, Name, Title, Page Number, Year and Comment. I have chosen this version for the web site as it is of greater genealogical value and may be of greater assistance to those looking for ancestors in Drogheda. Because of this, there is a lot of repetition of names, but this in itself can be genealogically helpful.
The earliest Church Records for Drogheda are as follows (Source: Ryan's Irish Records)
St. Peter's Church of Ireland:
Baptisms - 1654; Marriages - 1654; Burials - 1653
St. Mary's Church of Ireland:
Baptisms - 1763; Marriages - 1763; Burials - 1763
St. Peter's Roman Catholic:
Baptisms - 1744; Marriages - 1804
For those wishing to do further research, the "Council Book of the Corporation of Drogheda" was reprinted by the County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society in hardback in 1988. It is available from the Society at the vary reasonable price of 13 Euro, plus postage etc. Contact the Society at clahj@eircom.net for further details or visit their web site at http://www.clahs.com/ (click on "Publications"). Also, check Ebay, where the book is frequently available. The "Council Book of the Corporation of Drogheda" may also be found on some book dealers' web sites at totally outrageous prices.
Council Book of the Corporation of Drogheda
Name Index:
Note on Names: I have recorded the names as they are found in the book. Please be aware of considerable surname variations (to name but a few - Leigh can also be found under Ley, Rencher is also found as Ranger, and Wherley has many variants, Whirlowe, Whorley, Whirloe, etc.). For the most part names beginning with "F" are recorded as "ff" and sometimes "Ff". I have also retained the often quaint English spelling found in the minutes.
(Index updated with corrections and additional comments of genealogical interest, 19 April 2007)
For the Name Index to the Folio of the Council Book of the Corporation of Drogheda 1734-1758, click HERE
Introductory Note by The Rev. T. Gogarty to the Council Book of the Corporation of Drogheda, From the Year 1649 to 1734, Drogheda 1915:
"Scarcely any public-spirited interest has ever been taken in the Records of the Corporation of Drogheda. They are hidden away, shelved in the Record Room of the Corporation: few know of their existence, and fewer still have ever concerned themselves to ask what they are or what they contain. One distinguished student of Irish municipal history informed me that he was under the impression that the Drogheda Records were lost. They are not lost. If things were as they should be such impressions as this should not exist. In other towns the citizens have thought differently of their Records. The Records of the Corporations of Cork, Youghal, Kinsale and Belfast have been given to the public almost in their entirety. The Corporation of Dublin have put into the safe keeping of print, and into the hands of every Irishman who wishes to see them, Calendars of the Records of Dublin. The Records of Galway and Waterford have in great part been printed, and they and those of Kilkenny have been largely drawn upon to illustrate the history of those towns. D'Alton perused the Records of the Drogheda Corporation, and he abstracted a share of information from them. But while not wishing in the least to discredit the good work which that historian has done for Drogheda, it may he said that he barely skimmed the local Records. Since D' Alton's day, Sir John Gilbert, the greatest archivist Ireland has known, examined the Records. He found them valuable, and he tried to come to terms with the Corporation to have them transcribed and published. The Corporators, however, I am told, treated his offers slightingly. They do not seem to have thought the expense involved either desirable or within their power. More fortunately situated than he was, I have been able through the kindness of the present Corporation, and without any expense to them, to make a transcript of the Records from 1649 to 1804, but I pursued the project of publication hopelessly, until the Editor of the "Drogheda Independent" was made aware of my transcript. He at once very generously undertook to print them serially in his columns, and to then produce them in book form. This fine offer at once lightened the financial risks of the venture to publish them, and I have gladly accepted it.
The Drogheda Records begin at the General Assembly which preceded the storming of Drogheda by Cromwell in 1649. They continue almost without interruption down to the Records of the latest meeting of the Corporation. They are contained in several volumes, of which it is proposed to print Vols. I. and II., 1649 to 1804. It will appear clear that earlier Records survived the siege. We find references to laws which were contained in an earlier book called the Red Book, and there is also mention of an earlier White Book. These volumes have been lost. It is clear from the handwriting that the earliest page of the Minutes, namely, that recording the General Assembly of April, 1649, was not written until the September Assembly of that year, so that Volume I was begun a few days after Cromwell departed from the siege. These Volumes contain, naturally, immense stores of local information: they will be found invaluable by the historian who will write the history of Drogheda. They contain detailed information concerning the Corporation itself, and concerning every building and object of interest in the town. They tell the history of the walls and gates and bridge and some of the Churches. They contain the history of the markets and their locations, of the various properties of the Corporation, the list of the Mayors, Sheriffs, Aldermen and Councillors, their interests, their difference of opinions and politics. The history of the Corporation set up during the Cromwellian Protectorate, of that established by James II., and of that other interesting body nominated by William III, may be minutely gathered from these pages. It will be seen that almost throughout the Corporation was tenaciously Protestant in composition, and its Town Clerks have left a full and rather pitiful history behind them of its dealings with the Catholic and native traders and merchants. The genealogist will find a perfect mine of information in these pages. There are many families surviving in Drogheda and its suburbs whose genealogical trees can be made more perfect by searches here. Those who are interested in such social questions, as the care of the poor, the organisation of trade and labour, will find abundant matter for study. In the older days these problems confronted our forbears. They solved them differently from us, and it is a moot question whether they did not solve them more successfully. Now, while all this historical matter should be interesting and useful as a light upon the past of the Town of Drogheda, it will at the same time bring help to the historian of Ireland. All Irishmen are anxious to see a proper and full history of the country written. The Drogheda Records contain their quota of valuable material, and there seems no reason why they should be hidden any longer on shelves where only the moth may devour, and where, moreover, they are not beyond the danger of utter destruction by fire. If such a fire as occurred in the Dublin Council Room a few years ago befell in Drogheda, it is likely enough that the volumes, which are now about to be placed beyond that danger, would be destroyed. For all these reasons, and on behalf of posterity, the present work of publication has been undertaken. In the meantime, it is to be hoped, that the interest of Drogheda men may be awakened, and however dry those old Records may appear to them, at first sight, that they will come to be valued as they ought, and that the enlightened public spirit of the Paper which has undertaken their publication may be properly appreciated."
T. GOGARTY
25 January 2010
