John Grenham launches RC baptism maps by surname

Up to 1880, all Santry baptisms were in County Cork

Genealogist John Grenham’s Irish Ancestors site has developed a Catholic baptism mapping service, which shows the numbers of baptisms of a particular surname in each Catholic parish overlaid onto a Google map of Ireland.

You can see, right, a map of Santry baptisms. Darn clever!

John told Irish Genealogy News: “It’s based on FindMyPast’s transcripts of the National Library microfilms, which they generously shared with me. It has all the flaws of the microfilms, in particular the 1880 cut-off point, and of course the inevitable mistranscriptions, but I think it gives a useful bird’s-eye-view of what families were recording baptisms where." He calls it 'informative eye-candy'.

To use the mapping service, type a surname into the box on the Irish Surnames page and click 'Go'.

Like most of the site, the service is free to light users, with heavy users asked to pay a small subscription.