Search Donegal cemetery records

Transcript

Each record comprises a transcript of the original register. The amount of information listed varies, but the records usually include a combination of the following information about your ancestor:

• First name(s)
• Last name
• Burial year
• Birth year
• Death year
• Parish
• County
• Cemetery
• Locator
• Age
• Notes
• Reference number

Image

The records also contain at least one full colour photograph of the gravestone. You may be able to see the exact location of the grave and the condition of the grave, as well as any inscriptions that are not included in the ‘Notes’ field of the transcript.

The record set comprises records from Finner Graveyard, Inishmacsaint and St Anne's Church of Ireland in Ballyshannon.

The ‘Notes’ field provides information on the condition of the gravestone and any decoration, age of the deceased, occupation of deceased, names and ages of other family members who are buried in the same grave, details of the inscription on the headstone, and the erector’s name.

The records

Included in these records are those of Private Thomas McAtamney, who was buried in 1910 in Finner Graveyeard, Inishmacsaint. His notes read “Sacred to the memory of No. 2816, Private Thomas McAtamney who was accidentally drowned at Bundoran on 19th June 1910. Erected by the officers, NCOs, and men of the 3rd Tyrone Bt., Royal Inniskilling Fusileers”.

In 1907, W Prickett was buried in the same graveyard. His memorial inscription reads: “To the Glory of God and in memory of Private W. Prickett who was drowned in the River Erne when on bathing parade 11th July 1907. Erected by A Company and the Signallers 4th Battalion Royal Fusiliers.”

Also included in these records are those of Rev. James Brandon, buried in 1826. According to his notes, “Beneath are deposited the remains of the Rev. James Brandon curate of this parish for upwards of 35 years. He died on the 24th of 1826, aged 64. Surely pious, gentle, meek, benevolent, charitable: these truely Christian virtues which he strongly enforced both by precept and example gained him the love and veneration of all his parishioners. His much afflicted widow erected this monument as a small tribute of regard to the BEST OF HUSBANDS. Her remains also lie beneath this stone. She died the 29th of January 1831, aged 58 yrs. [According to the parish register she was Rebecca Brien]”.

The records also contain a Jack Spratt, but it’s unclear if he could eat no fat and whether his wife could eat no lean.

Donegal

Donegal is a county in the province of Ulster in Ireland. Lifford is the county town, but Letterkenny is the largest town. Donegal is part of the Border Region and is the largest county in Ulster, and the fourth-largest county in Ireland. The only border Donegal has with the Republic of Ireland is with Leitrim. It borders three counties of Northern Ireland: Londonderry (Derry), Tyrone, and Fermanagh. Donegal’s isolation from the rest of the Republic of Ireland has resulted in the county maintaining a distinct cultural identity.

The partition of Ireland in the 1920s had a significant effect on Donegal, cutting the county off from Derry, which had been Donegal’s main port, transport hub, and financial centre for centuries. Partition also cut Donegal off from the rest of the Irish Free State, which in 1949 became the Republic of Ireland. The existence of the border greatly exacerbated Donegal’s economic challenges; its economy is particularly susceptible to the fluctuations of the Euro against the Northern Ireland currency, the sterling.

Donegal has eight historic baronies:

Banagh

Boylagh

Inishowen East

Inishowen West

Kilmacrennan

Raphoe North

Raphoe South

Tirhugh

Finner Graveyard

Finner Graveyard is located north of the resort town of Bundoran in County Donegal. The graveyard is in the civil parish of Inishmacsaint but also in the Church of Ireland (Anglican) ecclesiastical parish of Inishmacsaint that’s based in County Fermanagh. Finner is referred to as Lower Inishmacsaint in the Church of Ireland registers.

There’s an old church ruin in Finner that probably pre-dates the 1600s when the Church of Ireland occupied Catholic sanctuaries. Since then, the graveyard has been mixed, containing both Catholics and Protestants. The earliest identifiable graves the researchers discovered were from the 1730s, but many old headstones and markers lack identification or dates, and there are a number of unmarked burial mounds. The volumes of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead that were prepared in the 1880s include references to Finner graves from the 1690s, some of which were within the church ruins. The graveyard is still used for burials today. As well as individuals from Donegal, Finner contains the remains of people from counties Leitrim, Sligo, and Fermanagh. In addition, several military personnel from nearby Finner Camp who died before World War 1 are buried here.