Those of us who are involved in long term genealogical research note that ages recorded on census returns and, indeed, on death records are frequently found to be quite inaccurate. There may be many reasons for such inaccuracies, not least because some individuals may not have known…

The scarcity of 19th century census returns for Ireland means that we genealogists place a huge emphasis on census substitutes. What is a census substitute ? My colleague, John Grenham explains it very well when he states, "Almost any document which records more than a single name can…

The mention of Irish land and property records causes many people to switch off and say that their people never owned property in Ireland. Indeed, it is true to say that very few people in 18th and 19th century Ireland owned their own property!

However, a wonderful…