Prior to the 20th century, the vast majority of Irish people lived in rural areas, leasing land and property from the landowners who owned large estates, some of which were thousands of acres in size. These estates, often managed by land agents, generated large amounts of records, a number of which are particularly useful for expanding the knowledge of your ancestors. If you have exhausted the civil registration and church records, these records could be very useful in providing further information about earlier generations who lived on an estate and where exactly they lived through records such as rentals, leases and estate maps. Other valuable documents within estate records include military muster rolls, correspondence, land agent notebooks, wage books, account books and emigration records, all of which have the potential to provide information about your ancestors. Following the Great Famine, many landlords fell into financial difficulty and the government established the Encumbered Estates Court which allowed for the sale of their estates. The records generated include information about tenants and their leases that often contain really valuable information to expand your family tree.
Comments (72)
Excellent webinar, can't wait to search for the Belmore Estate.
Natalie's talks are wonderful; always learn so much
Natalie Bodle is always excellent and provides great resources for our own research!
Hey Cathy, my friend - hope all is well with you and thank you!
Thank you for discussing land records in Ireland. As a thought for the future, perhaps you could do a county-by-county look at Ireland and North Ireland similar to what you are doing for England?
That is something to consider Cynthia, although I don't do talks on England?
Great Information
Thanks
Wonderful! So many records to explore. Thank you for the very useful handout.
You're welcome Jan and I'm glad you found it useful.
Excellent. I often get frustrated in my Ireland researches. This webinar taught me that there are more sites to search and gave me hope that I might one day be successful in my Ireland research.
Thank you Ida and wishing you success in your searching.