As researchers of Irish ancestors, we are constantly reminded of the records which were lost in the Four Courts fire of 1922. Those new to research in Ireland are often told that it will be nigh on impossible to trace their ancestors.
However, perhaps as a result of this loss, a huge amount of effort has gone in over the years to find, preserve and make available other records which have survived. This includes the Griffith’s Valuation (the famous “census substitute”); the 1901 and 1911 census which are both viewable for free thanks to the National Archives of Ireland, and of course the Civil Registration records with many indexed images now made available by the Irish Government.
As well as those big-hitting resources there are tens of thousands of other documents containing valuable information. These may be church records, street directories and will extracts, or less conventional sources like deeds and leases, subscribers to books or pamphlets, and lists of attendees at events.
There are hundreds of websites and blogs out there with one or more document transcribed from local records. Even if you know where your ancestor lived, chances are you won’t know about the more obscure records which exist. Therefore, one of the aims of this site is to work with individuals and organisations to gather data from across Ireland into a central user-friendly repository, “Ireland’s genealogical index”.
The plan is to reward users who submit records with “credits”. It may be that these credits are in future used to view records. Whatever the case, the commitment is that there will always be the option to continue using this site for free, whether by contributing records or by helping with transcription projects, or indeed by being affiliated with partner organisations.