Ireland Record Loss

There has been a great deal of destruction of the major Irish genealogical record sources. A fire in the Public Record Office in Dublin in 1922 destroyed many records. Additional records were destroyed by the government.

The following records have been destroyed:


 * Two-thirds of The Church of Ireland original Ireland Church Records parish registers.
 * Most pre-1900 Ireland Probate Records.
 * Marriage bonds and allegation.
 * Ireland Census|census returns for 1813, 1821, 1831/4, 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1891.
 * Coupled with government oppression of the Roman Catholic Church record keeping practices, this loss has resulted in only one in seven, 14%, pre-1800 churches still having parish registers available.

The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Family History Record Profile: Ireland,” Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 1986-2003.

Substitute Records
Although many records were lost in the 1922 fire, other records can be used to supplement the information lost.
 * Betham Genealogical Abstracts - abstracts of genealogical records collected by Sir William Betham. Useful substitute to records lost in the 1922 Public Record Office fire in Dublin.
 * Crossle Genealogical Abstracts - abstracts of genealogical records collected by Dr. Francis Crossle
 * Thrift Genealogical Abstracts - abstracts of genealogical records collected by Gertrude Thrift. Records include wills, parish registers, freeman lists, and pedigree charts. Records date as far back as the 16th century.