Exciting News About Irish Records in Ireland!

Most people who can trace their ancestors back to Ireland learn quickly that a terrible fire at the Public Records Office (PRO) during the Irish Civil War destroyed about 700 years' worth of records. Documents that went back to the fourteenth century when the British ruled in Ireland plus "thousands of wills, title deeds and parish registers" went up in flames on 30 June 1922. According to an article recently published in The Irish Times online, the 1861 and 1871 census records had been destroyed by the British, and during World War I, the 1881 and 1891 censuses were repurposed because of a lack of paper, as it wasn't deemed necessary to keep the data. What did remain in the PRO were the censuses of 1821, 1831, and 1841—all particularly valuable because they were created in the years before the Irish Potato Famine. These records also burned in that disastrous fire. However, Irish historians, archivists, and genealogists are making a concerted effort to rebuild what was lost and make as much as possible available to researchers. They have created a website called "Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland," and it's growing all the time.

Genealogical Timelines Can Be Wonderful Research Tools!

Now that summer is in full "Hot" mode, many of us are spending these sunny, sticky days indoors where the air conditioning can be a lifesaver. If you are one of those folks, perhaps it means you are also refocusing on your genealogy and looking for ways to solve baffling problems. One overlooked tool that may help you is a timeline. Let's look at what timelines are and how they might solve genealogical mysteries.