Advanced Irish Records

Optional Print Course Material: Irish: Court Records, State Papers, Parliamentary Documents

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

In the advanced level of the Irish Certificate, we examine some of the record collections that the genealogical detail in them is often difficult to locate. These documents are also harder to locate. More often they're not indexed, abstracted, or available to the public. However, information found will be direct and often provide good primary evidence of facts on subjects and events in periods where few other genealogical records survive. Seldom discussed by genealogists because they are so misunderstood and difficult to research, This course will provide you with an understanding of the importance of court, state, and parliamentary records for genealogical research. The one apparent note with this collection is that, unlike, many other genealogical sources, court/state/parliamentary records cover almost the entire period of late Irish history from the 12th century (in general) to the present.

Like, electoral and taxation sources, however, these record collections can supply, particularly for pre-1850 Ireland, some of the best pointers on periods of presence and locality, as well as indications of social strata, details on occupations, residences, physical descriptions, and family relationships or family structures.

Optional Print Course Material: Irish: Electoral and Taxation Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

A series of source records that tend to be less consulted are electoral, poll, and tithe records. In Ireland these comprise voters registers, hearth money rolls, poll tax rolls, land tithes, and subsidy rolls as well as many other taxation methods. The collection falls under two distinct series, each of which varies by period, and both of which will be discussed in this course.  Though they tend to be less informative than some of the other record groups, electoral and taxation records establish presence, among other details, in a period where few other records exist by which to do so. In addition, we discuss records of public office, freemen, and freeholders. Understanding these records is imperative to pre-1700 research in Ireland. The course covers the value and challenges of these records, contents, dates of coverage, types of persons included, access,  and brief lists of bibliographic and indexed sources. 

Optional Print Course Material: Irish: Estate, Plantation and Settlement Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

We examine the record collection for Ireland unique to this country, and the entire United Kingdom, are estate records, plantation documents, and settlement papers. They can be very difficult to use, however, hold original sources of information for periods that pre-date many of the later more customary genealogical source records.

This course provides an understanding of the importance of estate, plantation, and settlement papers when undertaking your genealogical research. 

Optional Print Course Material: Irish: Immigration, Naturalization and Emigration Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

There are no complete records of emigration, immigration, or naturalization for Ireland. There are some collections of this information available from Irish record sources; however, the bulk of meaningful source material will more likely come from the receiving country or sending country than from Irish sources. In both cases, we examine the materials available involving the Irish, the time periods they cover, and access. It is often a sparse and scattered collection of records not easily investigated but can provide a wealth of information on ancestors and their subsequent residences or earlier origins.

Optional Print Course Material: Irish: Military, Naval and Pension Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

The earliest records of a military and genealogical nature are contained in the ancient and medieval Annals of Ireland and other Gaelic manuscripts. These as well as later printed source materials provide valuable lists of officers and soldiers in local forces, accounts of military activity including officer personnel, local incidents and names of rebellious persons, the various records often accompanied with biographical and genealogical notes. We discuss these records, their value, some historical background, and their availability. Included: important pension records with documented places of residence, birth, parentage, marriage, and children. There were civil and military pensions granted in Ireland. We conclude with a look at the Irish and Royal Irish Constabulary records.