This website is dedicated to Martin McGoldrick who created the original Lurgan Ancestry website. He has provided a huge amount of research material, which is the basis of this website. He and his family spent countless hours, researching and documenting the lives and times of Lurgan and for this we should all be eternally grateful. It is our hope that we can continue Martin’s work and preserve the lives and histories of all those sons and daughters of Lurgan down through the ages.


About Us

I first came across Martin’s Lurgan Ancestry website when I was researching my own Lurgan Ancestors. My Great Grandfather and Grandmother were from Derryinver and married in Seagoe Parish Church in September 1850. The information available in the early days of the internet was very limited, but by 2002, Martin and his family and supporters had documented a wealth of information, making it freely available to the public. I then drifted away from genealogy as we sometimes do, when the real world takes over and livings have to be made and families raised! I resumed my quest a while ago and discovered that Lurgan Ancestry was no more. I then learnt through a genealogy forum that an archives website that had stored all of Martin’s material was soon to be removing it all and that it would be lost forever. Being a web designer by trade, I found that the lurganancestry.com name was available and so acquired it and set about salvaging Martin’s valuable data and reproducing it here. The site was launched in September 2010 and my hope is that in the coming months and years, others will come forward to pick up the baton and carry the project forward for the future generations of Lurganites who want to discover their roots. Ken Austin. 1 September 2010.

The Lurgan Ancestry website would not be possible without the tireless efforts of our friends, researchers, editors and contributors. Special thanks are due to the following, whose help has been invaluable:

Jim Gracey. Whose help and tireless enthusiasm has been truly inspiring. Jim has been a fountain of knowledge and ideas from the outset of the project and we intend to put many of his thoughts and ideas into practice as soon as we possibly can.

Barbara Harvey Freeburn. For her energy and love of the Lurgan area where she was born and bred and her tireless research on our behalf. Barbara has been the source of much encouragement at times when we couldn't see how this project would be ready on time.

Joanne Doyle. Who has spent countless hours collating information and adding names to the Griffiths Land Valuations and other database.

Barry McConville. Who has provided us with most of the wonderful Gravestone images on this website. His kindness has given us a wealth of information for which those unable to visit Lurgan themselves, should be truly grateful.

Mary Lennon. For her kindness and generosity in providing many of the Trade Directories for Lurgan and Portadown. Our undying thanks goes to her not only from all of us here, but from everyone who has found the directories an integral part of their genealogical research.

Jim McIlmurray. Jim is a well know character in Lurgan. He is a local historian, fighter for justice and part of the restoration team at The Dougher Cemetery. Jim has helped us with countless war records, gravestone images and now has his own section here, where his Lives and Times of Lurgan are a popular source of social history.

Brian Murray Brian has been a great friend to Lurgan Ancestry and continues to help us with many of the photos in our Lurgan People section. Brian spends countless hours keeping the spirit of old Lurgan alive via his facebook page Old Lurgan Photos.

A special mention must be made of Frank McCorry who has spent his whole life documenting the history of this area and whose many books have fascinated all who have read them. You can find some of Frank's books on our Books page. Also of Maria Johnston who has done much to document the history of Armagh and spent many hours transcribing documents for the benefit of all of us.

We would also like to thank all those people who have contributed to the Lurgan Ancestry Project or will do so in the future.