Major Irish Genealogy Database Reaches
Quarter of a Million Names
Great
news for anyone seeking their elusive Irish ancestors! The online Early Irish
Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes have collectively smashed through to a
quarter of a million names.
The
three indexes are compiled and hosted online by the Irish Genealogical Research
Society (IGRS). The marriage database was the first established, in 2014, with an
initial 40,000 names. Since then the Society has launched two corresponding additional
databases, one for births and another for deaths. All three have been regularly
updated, with the latest bringing the total record count, collectively, to a
quarter of a million names.
With so much of
the paper trail of Irish family history destroyed in the 1922 Public Record
Office fire, the aim of the three databases is to play a not-insignificant
role in signposting the extraordinary number of surviving lesser known and
underused sources for Irish genealogy. It covers records dating prior to 1864; that
being the year from which general civil registration began in Ireland.
The sources are
drawn from a wide variety of records providing substitute evidence of birth,
death or marriage. These encompass: family bibles, army and navy records, wills,
letters, newspapers, gravestone inscriptions, court records, deeds, leases,
diaries, published works, archives of religious orders, census abstracts, guild
records, pension records…the list is endless and continually being added to.
For
instance, a significant portion of the latest update was culled from the
British Civil Service Evidence of Age Index. Evidence of just over 2,600 Irish
births, deaths and marriages were gleaned from this resource. In applying for a
civil service job, in the absence of formal written records, friends and
neighbours often provided a sworn statement as to their knowledge of the
applicant's age. In the case of James Carey, born in Clonoulty, Co
Tipperary, in 1844, his neighbour, Patrick Tierney, writing some 22 years later,
confirmed James' date of birth as 7th January 1844, commenting: “I can declare to same from the fact
that my father died on said day.”
Another
source drawn upon for this latest update is Church of Ireland Marriage Licence
Bonds. Roz McCutcheon, the Society's coordinator for the project, said: "Although generally only the indexes
remain to Marriage Licence Bonds, they are nevertheless a primary source, and
include a surprising number of Catholic marriages. I have recently come
across some papers, while cataloguing at the Society of Genealogists in London,
which include full abstracts of some early marriages in the Dioceses of Ferns
& Derry. Thus, whereas the previous entry for the Ferns marriage of Henry
Haughton showed him marrying Catherine Cavanagh in or after 1682, the new additional
information from the abstracts notes the exact date of the bond was 10th
June 1682, and that the couple were both from Co Wexford, that Catherine was a
spinster, living at Polemounly, while Henry was from Ballyane."
Finally,
the death index has been boosted too by 3,260 records noted from newspapers. "It is surprising that
newspapers are still a much underutilised source for biographical information"
said Steven Smyrl, Chairman of the IGRS. "In particular, notices of death become more common from
the 1830s onwards as the middle classes begin to grow in strength and numbers",
he said, adding “as the months roll on, it is hoped to add many more entries to
the database culled from newspapers, proving that despite the great loss of
1922, there still remain many untapped sources for Irish genealogists to
explore”.
Access
to the Early Irish Marriage Index is completely free. The Early Irish Birth and
Death Indexes are IGRS members-only resources, although everyone is able
to access the corresponding free surnames indexes.
Explore further at www.IrishAncestors.ie.
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