This document provides an overview of a genealogical tourism project led by Dr. Paul MacCotter and John Tierney to document the history of families that took part in the Peter Robinson Assisted Emigration from Ireland to Canada in the 1820s-1830s. The project involves surveying graveyards and mapping homestead locations to build an online geolocated database of records. The goal is to help descendants research their ancestry and trace the places their families lived before emigrating. Methods for collecting, organizing, and publishing the historical data online are discussed.

1. This is a joint presentation by Dr
Paul MacCotter & John Tierney
Outlining a genealogical tourism
project currently underway with
Ballyhoura Developmet Ltd, and
funded by the Emigrant Support
Fund.

2. John Tierney is a field archaeologist with 30 years
experience. Secretary of our local heritage group in
Ardmore,Waterford formerly secretary of Ardmore
GAA where i got the equivalent of a Phd in rural
community development.
Dr. Paul MacCotter, MA, Ph.D teaches genealogy, family
history, and medieval history in University College Cork
and the University of Limerick. Since 1993 he has
published widely in the fields of Genealogy, Family
History, Medieval History, History of Government and
Church History.

3. John Tierney works with Eachtra Archaeological Project
who apply archaeological methods to community
heritage & genealogy projects with
www.historicgraves.com and www.thememorytrail.com.
Eachtra are highly digital in their excavation & post-
excavation methodologies which has developed a strong
skillset in managing geolocated digital datasets and the
lessons we lhave leanred on alrge excacation projects
have been applied to community heritage & digital
publication.

4. All site registers on an excavation
are linked to the consultation map.
All site data is digitised during the
excavation. – postex starts during
the ex.We geolocate objects with
cm’s accuracy – we use this same
approach to map headstones in a
graveyard or homesteads in a street
or townland.

5. Behind it all are simple spreadsheets
– if you can fill out a spreadsheet
you can make a geodatabase. Simple
spreadsheets are at the centre of all
of our projects.

6. Some of the key questions we are
dealing with on the Peter Robinson
Assisted Emigration Project

7. We work with community groups.

8. Here we see a Ballyhoura team
surveying in Liscarroll.Teamwork is
what makes the survey projects so
enjoyable –working with neighbours
to solve a multiplicity of puzzles
within a tight deadline.

9. Woolly hats and layers of clothing
are required all year round.

10. Kilbehenny)–gravestones)are)
significant)in)genealogical)
tourism)because)they)contain)
forename,)surname,)
placename)and)date)–)they)
are)historic)documents)
carved)in)stone.)

11. Gravestone)recording)is)done)
in)pairs)–)aiming)for)a)high)
quality)product.)

12. We attach names to places in the
landscape - we are geolocating
digital heritage - new paradigm for
publication & communication. By
gelocating everything we make it
easier for visitors to find places
despite the maze of boreens which
often lead to the graveyard or
homestead.

13. Our main website is
www.historicgraves.com
It is a powerful multimedia content
management system, based on
Drupal which is freely available on
the web, thus allowing communities
to publish their own data without
major costs.

14. Distribution map of the community
surveyed graveyards - there are over
700 graveyards online in the system,
surveyd and published by over 400
community groups in 5.5 years.
We are also working on projects in
the UK. And no surprise
communities in the UK are very
similar to Irish communities.

15. Here we see the distribution
of graveyards in Limerick.

16. Due to the support of rural
development funding bodies such as
Bayhoura Development Ltd we have
surveyed over 70% of all graveyards
in Co. Limerick.

17. Drape a blanket over the top of a
headstone and in the resulting shade
a flashlamp can be used to decipher
even the most difficult epitaphs.

18. This stone is in Old Kilfinane graveyard - spent many
the summer in the church across the road or passed
the graveyard on our bikes little thinking we d get so
engrossed - it is Bolster unsigned but probably
Joseph.
It has his key signatures of very strong technique and
unique design. Interestingly it is of the Raleigh
family, one branch of which is connected to Sean
Moylan of the War of Independence fame, who
originated in Kilmallock.

19. Some are simple in shape and very
simply inscribed.All such stones are
worth examining as we have found
faint initials inscribed as well as
crosses.

20. Cheaper materials in the early 20th century have meant
headstones have become more affordable - these three
concrete headstones from Brigown in Mitchelstown are
typical - often made from a wooden form which means
they are found repeated in the same and adjacent
graveyards.
We have anecdotal accounts of such headstones being
made for neighbours and friends - so social networks
may be detectable from gravestones.
And the key point is that families who were not
previously traceable in graveyards have now become
visible.We can investigate class & social status with our
graveyard surveys.

21. How to survey a graveyard

22. Our system is designed to survey a
graveyard completely - the average
rural graveyard has 100-200
headstones. Each headstone is equally
important and all are treated the
same.
These are the three simple steps
involved

23. Before surveying the graveyard we must first understand
the geography of the place. Historic graveyards are
organised as a compass on the landscape – most
churches will be oriented W-E and the headstones will
mostly face east. East facing headstones & reuse of family
graves results in the formation of N-S rows in the
graveyard.
Also most graves measure 3ft wide - this rule of thumb
makes it surprisingly easy to do a sketch plan with some
practice.

24. Simply put, we number each grave memorial with masking tape and
a marker.
We then take one geotagged photo of each memorial in numbered
sequence and upload this to the website.
Instant publication is highly engaging for our volunteer groups –
theys ee immediate results for their work.
The geotagged grave memorial photo is then a hook that we can
hang other media (audio and video stories) onto. We have become
geolocated heritage media content publishers. Local people do the
surveys, tell their stories and publish them to the web.
As well as hi-tech tools like GPS cameras and audio recorders we
depend on simple rolls of masking tape and markers. The tape is
used to put a number on the back of each grave memorial. This
usually stays on for a week or two and is removed by the community
when they are done. If the labels are washed off they are simple to
replace. An average graveyard of 89headstones can be renumbered
in less than an hour.

25. The whole enterprise relies
on a simple role of masking
tape which we use to
number each grave
memorial (average Irish
rural graveyard has 89
headstones)

26. This slide demonstrates our key technique for reading
headstones -we use a single led Lenser P7 torch - aim
for 200 lumens or greater than 3 million candle power.
Anything less powerful will be a disappointment - so our
advice for all graveyard researchers is get the lenser P7 -
if gran or grandad has a birthday coming up forget about
the jumper or socks- get everybody to box together and
buy a P7 lenser.

27. All of the records are compiled into
The Graveyard Folder which is kept
locally. This is the paper archive that
complements the digital archive which
is published online.

30. Online resources
Websites
http://www.sehs.on.ca/publications.htm
http://trentvalleyarchives.com/
http://www.peterborough.library.on.ca/
http://trentvalleyarchives.com/genealogy/peter-robinson-ships-list/
http://www.geni.com/projects/Irish-Peter-Robinson-Settlers-Canada/2553
http://www.canada411.ca/search/?stype=si&what=Swytzer&where=Emily%2C
+Ontario%2C+Canada
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?filters%5BphysicalLocation_mtxt_s%5D
%5B%5D=Map+Division&keywords=&sort=dateDigitized_dt+desc
http://www.canada411.ca/map/mapSearch.html?layers=dir&to=719+Emily+St+Hanmer
+ON+P3P+1E4&what=Swytzer&where=Emily%2C+Ontario%2C
+Canada&lid=202900442
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=canadianbc&so=2&pcat=40&gss=angs-
c&new=1&rank=1&msT=1&gsfn=Tobias&gsfn_x=0&gsln=Switzer&gsln_x=0&msbpn_
_ftp=Ontario%2c+Canada&msbpn=5007&msbpn_PInfo=5-
%7c0%7c1652393%7c0%7c3243%7c0%7c5007%7c0%7c0%7c0%7c0%7c&cpxt=1&cp=
3&MSAV=1&uidh=i41

32. In the early 19th century the British government came up with a plan to fund assisted
emigration programs for Irish people who were desperate. Peter Robinson was
selected to lead one of the earliest expeditions.The advertisement which proclaimed
the emigration scheme stated categorically that only a limited number of Settlers
would be chosen to emigrate to Upper Canada.
Most of the emigrants were chosen from the area north of the Blackwater River in
Cork from the estates of 3 key landlords though a number of Kinsellas, from the
southeast of Ireland, also went. Eight land owners chose 239 families with 37 other
landowners picking the remaining 68 families. Emigrants were required to be
peasants, and Roman Catholic although several Protestant families were chosen. No
person over the age of 45 would be accepted. Each emigrant was to be given 70 acres
which would be subject to a payment of an annual quit rent to the Crown, to be paid
every six months at 2 pence per acre. In “The Peter Robinson Settlement of 1825 ,
author Bill LaBranche says,“In the year 1823 Robinson was to lead an emigration
from poverty stricken Ireland to Canada bringing over 182 families in that same year,
Robinson opened and settled much of the OttawaValley. By May, 1825, the problem
had not resolved itself and once again, Robinson, as Superintendent, hustled his
Settlers onto the nine ships that awaited them.A total of 2,024 people were crowded
onto those nine ships causing ships fever which resulted in several deaths during the
voyage.”
The families, over two thousand in total settled in 6 townships throughout the

33. The graveyards currently gathered in
the Peter Robinson group are found
here;
http://historicgraves.com/project/
graveyards-ballyhoura-peter-
robinson-assisted-emigration-project

34. We aim to add the relevant
Canadian graveyards and cemeteries
to the database.

35. The individual graveyards look like
this – they show a geolocation/map,
a signature photgraph for each site
and a namecloud showing the most
common surnames found on
headstones in the graveyard.

36. We conduct full surveys of each
graveyard.We aim for every
headstone in every graveyard in a
parish – in this way we can make it
easier for the Canadian genealogists
to trace their forebears ancestral
graveyards.

37. Old Kilfinane Namecloud –the
larger the name the more frequently
it is found on the Kilfinane
gravestones

38. Compared with the Namecloud for
the first ship to sai in 1823l The
Hebe

40. Background to the Peter Robinson
Assisted Emigration

41. The type of records available for
Paul macCotter to commence his
research – the challenge in this case
is can Paul identify Ceileachair’s/
Kelchers/Kellehers to more than
Dingle?

42. By checking records of births, deaths
and marriages from the early 19th
century Paul has been able to trace
about 10% of the passengers to
townland level.

43. In this case a member of the local
community has already commenced
research on the Doherty’s of
Curraghavoe and will work together
with the research team.

44. About a quarter of all Peter Robinson
families can be traced to a parish, and 10%
to a townland.The project will continue to
publish these new results to
thememorytrail.com thus building an
important geolocated genealogical
database.
The project is also building a system for
tracing and recording the places associated
with the families of the Irish diaspora who
emigrated in the 19th/early 20th centuries.

45. We first looked at some historical
sources for the occupants of
Ballydonohue in the early 1800s and
then traced the changes in families
throughout the 19th century.

47. We are faced with a confusion of maps –
this is the earliest version of the Griffiths
Valuation map –date 1850.We use this
map to pin the locations of families from
1850 onwards – hoping at least some
families held the same lands in the century
before 1850.We cannot predict the results
of this survey and aim to work with
community groups to determine the levels
of dynamism in landholding in the 18th &
19th centuries.

48. As well as recording geolocated records of the
Peter Robinson families’ burial places on
historicgraves.com we have also started to try and
trace the homesteads of those families at
http://thememorytrail.com/content/
ballyhoura-peter-robinson-assisted-
emigration-project
We are working with community groups elsewhere in ireland to
record other emigration events from rural townlands to streets in
Dublin.Any groups wishing to work with us on this type of project
please email john@eachtra.ie.

49. This is a clothe map available in the
Valuations Office in Dublin showing
landholding plots in Ballydonohue in
1871.The plot numbers on this
correspond to Cancel Books which
are handwritten lists of landowners
and tenants where the succession of
tenants is indicated in coloured ink.

50. We will plot theseValuation records to
the townlands they relate to. Here is the
plot for Ballydonohue.
http://thememorytrail.com/group/
ballydonohue-griffiths-valuation-
properties-1850-onwards
This geolocated dataset can be explored
with any gps enable device and web
browser.

51. Here we see Paul’s pre-1850s research
identifying the Cleary family hold the land
in 1828 to be succeeded by the Courtneys
in the 1850s.The red pin on the map
shows that this is a geolocated dataset –
using that pin any tourist/visitor can easily
find this field, without any local knowledge
at all –simply open the site in your
smartphone and use it’s satnav to drive
you there.

52. Plot 2 is associated with the Cleary
and Fenton families.

53. The Connor’s and Fenton’s farmed
plot 3a/7a.This same property is an
important tourism site today where
schoolbuses visit on a regular basis
to explore an Irish dairy farm.

54. The live map on thememorytail.com
showing the three historic
properties on a google map
background.

55. Using thememorytrail.com we are in
the process of publishing the key
people, palces and events involved in
the Peter Robinson Assisted
Emigration.
Together building up a geolocated
genealogical database.
We add Data first and Stories second.

56. Watch as the online database grows
http://thememorytrail.com/
content/ballyhoura-peter-
robinson-assisted-emigration-
project

57. All of the data will be organized into
logical groups.

58. We will also include groups of
geolocated Canadian data – we
know the approx 2000 emigrants
went to 7 townships in Ontario.

59. One data group will identify the
passengers on each ship –their
familial relations and allow
descendants to add information to
the website.This pages shows the
data entry for the Armstrong family
from Kilfinane who sailed on the
Hebe.

60. Using a gps enabled smartphone to track a
genealogical dataset in Collins Barracks
Dublin.Augmented reality software like
layar.com can also be used to explore the
datasets and will publish the Peter
Robinson data in layar in late Spring.

61. This project is being run as a pilot to
build a methodology for making the
past a place.
The methods we develop can also be
used to investigate the broader
emigration events of the 19th century.
We are actively seeking partners with
links on the other side of the pond who
will be interested in surveying
headstones and homesteads/