Tuesday 4 October 2022

Four more Irish collections join the free FamilySearch database

FamilySearch has added four Irish record collections to its database. While the original documents are held by the National Archives of Ireland, previously-microfilmed copies were digitised by FindMyPast and Ancestry some years ago. They have been available online only through those subscription-based sites until now, so there will be many researchers pleased to see them arrive in a free-to-access database.

The collections are as follows:

Dublin, Workhouses Admission and Discharge Registers, 1840-1919. This collection holds some 1,533,207 indexed entries for individual inmates registered at the Dublin North, Dublin South, and Rathdown Poor Law Union workhouses in County Dublin. Digital images of register pages accompany each indexed search result.

Dublin, Poor Law Unions Board of Guardians Minute Books, 1839-1924. The Board of Guardians records include handwritten details of meeting minutes, disciplinary matters, case histories, correspondence, contracts, and the hiring of foster mothers and wet nurses. Nearly 893,000 records have been indexed and each one links to an image of the relevant book pages.

Ireland, Court of Chancery Bill Books, 1627-1884. The Court of Chancery was an equity court based in Dublin presided over by the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. It aimed to provide flexible remedies to disputes between parties. The bill books relate to financial disputes, and the indexed collection contains 1,217,591 records. The images can be accessed only at FamilySearch affiliated libraries or Family History Centers.

Ireland, National School Registers, 1847-1954. These 297,029 records are sourced from 24 of the 26 counties now making up the Republic of Ireland (those for Northern Ireland are held by PRONI). Most are from rural schools. There are no records for schools in counties Westmeath and Carlow. To meet Data Protection laws, some records have been redacted.

From St Patrick's Dublin 1881 School Register recording age, religion, address and occupation of the child's father.