In the middle of the 19th centuries, record keeping was less a priority than it was in America. We are use to finding good records of births, marriages and deaths from that time period. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case in Ireland. Individual churches decided how to keep records or failed to keep them at all. It wasn't until 1864, that the British Government decided that such records must be kept. These official records had to be sent to Dublin where they were stored. During the civil war in Ireland in 1922, the records were destroyed. Some churches kept copies of their registries, so some information survived. The Harshaw Diaries fill in some of void created by the destruction of these official documents for the residents of the Donaghmore area. The following listing contains the names for whom there is genealogical information, the name of the minister performing the baptism or marriage, or emigration information:

The information on these families covers ONLY the period of 1838 to 1864 for the Donaghmore and Newry area of County Down and Armagh. James wasn't a greatly schooled man and his spelling is somewhat creative, but is usually quite phonetic. For specific information on these entries contact Marge or Suzanne (email links located at top of page). Also note that there are many other names mentioned in the Diaries besides those entries which contain genealogical information.

Article written by Marjorie Harshaw Robie, March 27, 2000