THE Omagh branch of the Northern Ireland Family History Society has just published a new book title, 'Hatches, Matches and Dispatches,' which records the notices of births, marriages and deaths of people in Omagh and surrounding districts in the 19th century. There are about 2,000 notices, with births from 1827-1873; marriages 1815-1873 and deaths from 1820-1873, and there are also a number of notices included from the late 16th century.
The research for the notices was carried out by a member of the society, William J McGrew. William first started researching the Tyrone Constitution and Omagh News and extended his work to the Strabane Morning Post, Belfast Newsletter and the Derry Journal. All of these publications are available on microfilm in the Western Education and Library Board's (WELB) Local Studies Department in Omagh Library.
The book is alphabetically name indexed in three sections and would be of great interest to people in and around Omagh and abroad who want to find out more about their ancestry.
The book period has many interesting and quirky examples of life in the 19th century, for example in 1861 an Omagh hide merchant who marries the daughter of a local flax merchant or in 1862 the eldest son of a local family who was a Lieutenant in the 47th Tennessee Regiment and was killed at Corinth, Missippi, in the American Civil War.
The publication which has been grant aided by Omagh District Council, will be launched in Omagh Library on Tuesday, March 20 at 7.30pm and copies will be available on sale at Carlisle Bookshop, Omagh Tourist Board, Campsie Post Office and the Ulster American Folk Park.
Omagh Family History Society have previously published the book, 'Tombstones of the Omey,' which is the only collective record of inscriptions from gravestones in many of the older graveyards around Omagh and a few copies are still available.
The society meets in Omagh Library on the third Tuesday of each month (September to April) at 7.30pm and extends an open invitation to anyone interested in family history to join them.
