Ancestry.com Releases the Definitive 19th Century Irish Collection to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day
March 14 2011 - 2:18AM
Marketwired
In recognition of St. Patrick's Day, Ancestry.com, the world's
largest online family history resource, today launched The Irish
Collection -- the definitive 19th century collection of Irish
historical records. The collection provides nearly 100 years of
insight into life in Ireland in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Because few records exist from this time period, the collection is
immensely valuable to people researching their Irish heritage and
anyone seeking a more comprehensive view of Ireland before and
after the Great Potato Famine, during which time many millions fled
Ireland in search of a better life.
Nearly 37 million U.S. residents claim Irish ancestry (or
approximately 12 per cent of the U.S. population) according to the
American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. This
number is more than eight times the population of Ireland itself
(4.5 million) and means that many millions of Americans may have
ancestors in The Irish Collection.
The Irish Collection, online and searchable now at
www.Ancestry.com/Irishrecords, offers an essential resource for
anyone researching Irish history. The records will help trace Irish
family heritage during 19th century Ireland through detailed maps,
photographs and land use records spanning almost 100 years.
Ancestry.com has enhanced the collections by cross-referencing
family names with other rich content such as photographs and land
records.
The Irish Collection, 1824-1910 includes:
- Griffiths Valuation, 1847-1864: One of
the most important surviving 19th century genealogical resources
for Ireland, this collection of over 2.5 million records provides a
snapshot of ancestors who rented land or property throughout
Ireland in the 1850s.
- Tithe Applotment Books, 1824-1837: In
1823 a law was enacted requiring all land holders to pay a tax or
"tithe" to the Church of Ireland, regardless of their religious
affiliation. With details like tithe payer, acreage of their land
and amount of their tithe, these 600,000 records in effect provide
a census of pre-famine Ireland.
- Ordnance Survey Maps, 1824-1846: The
Ordnance Survey of Ireland maps relate to the first detailed
mapping of Ireland undertaken during the 1830s and 1840s. The later
part of the survey was produced during the height of the
famine.
- Lawrence Collection, 1870-1910: This
collection of 20,000 photographs showcases the length and breadth
of Ireland -- Howth Head in the East to Achill Head in the West and
from Malin Head in the North to Skibbereen in the South -- through
the eyes of William Lawrence's photography studio in Dublin.
Many key political figures in history have boasted Irish
ancestry, including more than a quarter of United States
Presidents, including John F. Kennedy, whose 2nd great-grandfather
is listed in the collection. Patrick Kennedy was living in Wexford,
Ireland where he was renting a home. His relative John Kennedy was
living nearby. President Barack Obama's 4th great grandfather
Fulmuth Donavan also appears, living in Ballygurleen, Bourney,
Tipperary, in 1829 according to the Tithe Applotment records.
More notable Irish-Americans' ancestors can be found in these
new collections, including:
- Conan O'Brien -- Conan's 3rd
great-grandfather Daniel O'Brien was renting a house, land, and
offices from Kilner Brazier, Esq, in Lissard Townland, Galbally
Civil Parish, County Limerick, Ireland
- Sean Hannity -- Hannity's
great-grandfather, Thomas Hannity married Margaret Ward, who was
born in 1845 to Edward Ward, a farmer, and his wife Alice
Mulholland. Hannity's 2nd great grandfather Edward Ward, also a
farmer, was living in Ballymaghinghy, Drumgooland, County Down,
Ireland. The lessor was Earl Annesley
- Walt Disney -- Arundel Elias Disney, the
great-grandfather of the entertainer and founder of the Disney
empire, is listed in Griffiths and Tithe records, recorded as
living in Clone, Rathbeagh and Kilkenny.
(Original record images for each of these names are
available)
Through records such as the Griffiths Valuation and Tithe
Applotment books, Philadelphia resident Tom Rogers uncovered the
dire economic conditions that his ancestors endured in 19th Century
Ireland, including illness and severe poverty that forced the
family into the poorhouse before immigrating to the United
States.
"My paternal grandmother put the 'old country' behind her to
start anew in America so much of the family history, especially our
oral history, has been lost over time," says Rogers.
"Ancestry.com's wealth of records has helped me paint a fairly
vivid picture of my family and explain why they came to America,
where they were from, who they married, who was a horse thief, who
was a hero and so on."
Ancestry.com is continuously adding to its global collection of
more than 6 billion historical records. With the addition of these
new collections, Ancestry.com now possesses more than 35 million(1)
Irish historical records and will continue building the collection
as more are digitized.
"As more than one in ten Americans has Irish heritage, with
these collections, we can now do more than just celebrate this St
Patrick's Day -- we can actually explore where in Ireland we came
from," said Josh Hanna, Executive Vice President at Ancestry.com.
"The U.S. has always closely identified with Ireland and Irish
culture and so it is very exciting to make available records that
can help so many of us to trace back to a particular person, place
and time in Ireland more than 150 years ago."
Starting a family history research project can be as simple as
entering a name into Ancestry.com, allowing the powerful search
technology to comb through millions of records and help uncover
facts to develop family stories. To promote the new Irish
collections, Ancestry.com users can enter a sweepstakes to win a
trip to Ireland. To begin searching The Irish Collection, visit
www.ancestry.com/Irishrecords. For further stories and updates
related to Irish family history research, you can also follow
Ancestry.com on Facebook and Twitter.
About Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Inc.
(NASDAQ: ACOM) is the world's largest online family history
resource, with nearly 1.4 million paying subscribers. More than 6
billion records have been added to the site in the past 14 years.
Ancestry users have created more than 20 million family trees
containing over 2 billion profiles. Ancestry.com has local Web
sites directed at nine countries that help people discover,
preserve and share their family history, including its flagship Web
site at www.ancestry.com.
(1)Ancestry.com's historical Irish record collection is
comprised of historical collections, and also Irish photographs and
stories contributed by our members
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