The second week of the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland's release of records delivered the promised Census records (see teaser in Part I of Anniversary Gifts for Genies blogpost) and more.
So let's get down to it. The following releases and plans for their expansion will delight Irish genealogists:
1821 Census of Ireland transcripts: There's been a lot of detective work going on to make sense of paper scraps and scribbled notes to reveal names and places from this pre-Famine census. The resulting release sees the names of more than 4,000 individuals enter the public realm for the first time. These are sample households from each of the island's four provinces.
The team working on this collection has already gathered 50,000 names and research suggests this could rise to 200,000. Every name that can be deciphered and placed in a precise location will come on stream in 2025. In the meantime, check out the team's report – Census Gleanings – for more explanation and detail about this wonderful collection of previously lost family history.
Among the highlights is a partial (c35%) reconstruction of the 1821 census entries for Desertegny parish in County Donegal (most of the individuals are named Dougherty). Check out the townland-by-townland transcriptions here, and transcripts for Drogheda's St Peter's parish and St Mary's parish.
For an understanding of how the research team have been able to reconstruct populations by combining different source materials, see the 'Scope and Content' info for Clonmel Town.
Deeds, Wills and Memorials: Volume 2 of the Registry of Deeds Transcript Books series is the latest addition to the VRTI from Tailte Éireann. Dating from March 1708, some 400 new items are ready to be explored. The update also includes the 'Deeds, Wills and Memorials' curated collection with its explanatory text; three printed volumes of the Irish Manuscript Commission's abstracts of wills 1708–1832; and ...drum roll... the collection is now fully searchable online.
By 2025, the Tailte Éireann collection will hold 20 volumes from the Registry of Deeds Transcript Book series, consisting of about 11,300 pages, some 10,300 memorials and 6.7million words of searchable content!
Go crazy!