Finding your family's footprints in Ireland

Irish genealogical research is often considered a formidable challenge due to the destruction of significant census records in 1922, but this webinar expertly reframes the process, proving that a wealth of information survives and is readily accessible. The session focuses on leveraging property and tax records—specifically Griffith’s Valuation (1847-1864), which lists every occupier and lessor, and the subsequent Cancelled Land Books—as powerful census substitutes. This paper trail is vital for understanding land tenure and tracking changes in occupancy year by year, effectively bridging the gap between the Valuation and the surviving 1901 and 1911 censuses. Crucially, the webinar emphasizes the necessity of collating every scrap of available information from foreign records before diving into the Irish archives. Successful research relies heavily on identifying the exact townland, parish, or Poor Law Union by analyzing sibling, sponsor, witness, and neighbor records (the "fan club" network) created after immigration, a strategy that provides the specificity needed to successfully navigate the Irish records and trace a family's presence to the precise townland. Researchers are also encouraged to utilize historical resources like Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland and the surviving census reports to establish the social, economic, and demographic context of their ancestral place.

Key Takeaways for Irish Research

• Land Divisions are Everything: Understanding the hierarchy of provinces, counties, baronies, civil parishes, Catholic parishes, and, most critically, the smallest official unit—the townland—is essential for targeted record searching.
• The Power of the Fan Club: Place names are often discovered not through the primary ancestor, but through the consistent use of family members (siblings, in-laws, godparents, and marriage witnesses) who appear together across multiple records, confirming a shared geographic origin.
• Property as a Time Machine: Griffith’s Valuation maps, especially when overlaid with modern satellite imagery on sites like Ask About Ireland, allow researchers to visually pinpoint the exact plot of land or building lot their ancestor occupied, sometimes revealing structures that still stand today.