The Armagh Guardian: Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1844-1852: Transcripts and Indexes

This book presents transcriptions of birth, marriage, and death notices from historic issues of The Armagh Guardian newspaper, between Dec. 3, 1844 - Dec. 25, 1852. This period corresponds with that dark epoch in Irish history known as The Great Famine, or in Gaeilge, An Gorta Mór--from the earliest reports of disease found in the potato crops in late 1844, to the dénouement of this tragedy in the early 1850s, in an Ireland permanently altered by the consequences of mass hunger, disease, death, and emigration. Between 1844-1852, John Thompson, proprietor and editor, published 6,453 birth, marriage, and death notices. These notices contain 14,534 surname references--all indexed in this compilation, for ease of reference. A total of 25,982 references to place names have also been indexed: 22,353 within Ireland, and 3,629 places around the world, ranging from England (1,963), Scotland (402), the USA (391), and the Canadian provinces (169), to the East Indies (115), France (71), Australia (47), and other farflung places around the globe. Whether employed in the pursuit of family or local history research, or perused at leisure in an armchair, may this book also serve as a tribute to the memory of the people who were born in the county of Armagh, in neighbouring counties, in Ireland generally, and--perhaps, especially--to the multitudes who suffered during the famine years, and whose names were not immortalized in the pages of The Armagh Guardian or other contemporary newspapers. :: :: :: John Thompson, proprietor and editor of The Armagh Guardian, got his start in the newspaper business under the tutelage of William Trimble (1802-1886), publisher of The Impartial Reporter and Farmers' Journal at Enniskillen, in the county Fermanagh. Embarking on his own newsprint venture, Thompson printed the inaugural edition of The Armagh Guardian on December 3, 1844. He continued to publish from English-street in Armagh, until his death on February 3, 1880, when his son, William C.B. Thompson, succeeded him.