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Ireland Records - Its never been easier to search
 Newsletter October 2008
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Irish Record Collection

One of the largest collections of Irish records available is available online on Familyrelatives.com. This forms part of a programme to add more than 10 million new records by the end of this year.

The new sources will contain, Indexes to Irish Wills 1536-1857 (5 Volumes), Irish Genealogical Guide, Quaker Records Dublin Abstracts of Wills, Alumni Dublinense 1593-1846, Ireland Topographical Dictionary, Land Records Ireland, Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy, 1660-1815, Irish Names and Surnames, MacDonald's Directory - 5 counties and the Medical Register for Ireland 2 Volumes. The records contain amongst other material, surnames, year, location and county.

An extract from the Irish Genealogical Guide - Copies & Abstracts of Irish Wills describes why these records are so useful to family historians and came to exist. "Wills being of paramount importance for the study of family and social history, the act of vandalism by which the buildings of the Four Courts, Dublin, were destroyed on the 30th June, 1922, has proved to be a serious set-back to genealogical research, as all the original wills deposited therein at the time were burned; many other documents of national importance met a similar fate.

Fortunately however, prior to the disaster, genealogists had copied from time to time many thousands of these wills and the results of their labours had been offtimes published in genealogical journals and family histories.

We are very pleased to present the Irish collection online, it has always been our intention to add Irish records to the existing Familyrelatives.com data as these rare records are invaluable to family historians and assist in their research.

IRISH RECORDS COLLECTION

Indexes to Irish Wills 1536-1857 (5 Volumes), this dataset is a five-volume series of indexes to Irish wills. Each entry lists the individual's name, address, and the year the will was settled in probate.

Irish Genealogical Guide, copies and Abstracts of Irish Wills covers the period from 1445 to 1834. Each entry lists the individual's name, address, reference and the year the will was settled in probate.

Quaker Records Dublin Abstracts of Wills
The Abstracts include valuable information including the individual's name, address, and the year the will was settled and proved in probate. Family relations, occupations, witnesses, freeholds, monies, inventories and more are mentioned in the abstracts.

Alumni Dublinense 1593-1846
A register of the Students, Graduates, Professors and Provosts of Trinity College, in the University of Dublin.

Amongst other material includes schools, school alumni, the individual's name, father's name, trade, profession, or rank, age, birthplace, and the year they were awarded their degree. Includes Alumni from Ireland and abroad.

 
 

The Royal School, Armagh
The Royal School, Armagh register officially began in 1849 although records date back to 1635.

The Register will prove invaluable in researching your family history as the material includes the individual's name, place or date of birth, father's name, rank, profession or trade, the year they were at the school, educational qualification and career. This may include additional information on their military ranks with the dates of promotion and the date and place of death. Includes students and pupils from Ireland and abroad.

Ireland Topographical Dictionary
The database is an alphabetical dictionary of the topography of Ireland and provides historical and statistical descriptions of several of Ireland's counties, cities, boroughs, corporate markets, post towns, parishes, and villages. A useful resource as they enable one to locate and learn about the places our ancestors lived. provides historical and statistical descriptions of several of Ireland's counties, cities, boroughs, corporate, market and post towns, parishes, and villages. Ideal source for learning about the place your ancestors lived.

Return of Owners Land Ireland 1876
The Return shows the holding, in acres, roods and poles, and estimated yearly rental valuation, of all holdings over 1 acre. The database is organised by county, landowner and address for each landowner is provided.

MacDonald's Trade Directory 1927 for the counties of Antrim, Tipperary, Armagh, Belfast, Londonderry and Kerry. Business and trade directories providing useful social history information on trade names and occupations, names, addresses as well as information on schools in the locality.

Irish Names and Surnames, a fascinating collection of Irish names and surnames, the records include the Gaelic names of men and women from English to Irish and Irish to English and Clan names with useful and historical descriptions and the origins of a name. A treat for budding onomatologists.

Medical Register for Ireland 2 Volumes. The records contain the surname, address and location, year and qualifications followed by the Medical Schools from which the Members qualified.

Irish Passenger Lists 1846-1851, Passengers who arrived at the Port of New York during the Irish famine are already available for free online.

Index to Prerogative Wills of Ireland 1536 - 1810
"Amongst the various sources of information open to the genealogist, it is generally admitted that Wills occupy the most important place...it is often possible to obtain particulars of three or four generations of a family besides a general insight into the extent of civilization and social position of our ancestors." Sir Arthur Vicars

All of the Prerogative Wills of Ireland were destroyed by a fire in the Dublin courthouse in 1922, but before that Sir William Betham had created an index and took notes of the genealogical data in the wills from 1536 to 1800. In 1897 Sir Arthur Vicars completed the index to Betham's records.

   
Beta Version

New Website in Beta

Why Beta? Well because we think that we can always improve, from the quality and range of the historical records to your experience and interaction on our website with our emphasis on ease of use and lower cost.

We have many changes to come on Familyrelatives.com over the next few months from Calendar’s to Photo Albums, to Family Tree software, to Family & Friend inclusion and we would love your feedback and interaction.