What records survive from the Irish Famine years, and where should I look?
Less survives than families hope, and what does survive is scattered. There was no civil registration of births and deaths until 1864, and no usable census between the fragments of 1841 and 1851 and the returns of 1901. Work with what the period left. Parish registers continue through the Famine years in many parishes, though burials were often not recorded at the height of it. Workhouse records, the minute books of the Boards of Guardians and admission and discharge registers, survive for some unions and sit in the National Archives, in PRONI and in county archives, with some sets on Findmypast. Griffith's Valuation, published from 1847, and estate papers and contemporary newspapers complete the usual list. Many Famine deaths were never written down anywhere, and a gap in the record is itself part of the story.
Useful pages: The Irish surnames map · Trace your Irish roots · The 1926 Census guide · Coming home · Irish around the world · Plan your journey
Sources
- National Archives of Ireland: the 1901 and 1911 censuses, census fragments, Tithe Applotment Books and research guidance, nationalarchives.ie
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