THE Irish Genealogical Research Society has added a further 5,000 records to the its Early Irish birth, marriage and death Indexes.
This brings the total number of names to almost 260,000.
This latest update means the Society's collection of lesser used and obscure sources for Irish births, marriages and deaths now totals 24,500 births (47,800 names), 83,600 marriages (186,800 names) and 16,800 deaths (24,500 names).
New material includes surviving 19th century census records; marriage licence indexes; pre-1922 abstracts from exchequer and chancery court records; memorial inscriptions; biographical notices from newspapers; a large number of long-forgotten published works on particular families and places; and memorials from Ireland's Registry of Deeds.
One of the rare books from which data is drawn is the Memoirs of the Fultons of Lisburn, published in 1903.
Project coordinator Roz McCutcheon said: "As an example, the Fulton Memoirs provide great detail, allowing long dead people to be easily identified.
"Take Richard Fulton of Lisburn, as an example. We can conclude he was dead by April 1823, having outlived his wife, Elizabeth, whose maiden surname was Shanks, and who had died before him in July 1812 aged 60, and thus born about 1752."
She added: "In addition to the publications this particular update draws heavily from Registry of Deeds memorials, access to which is now much easier since FamilySearch uploaded images of the old 1950s microfilms at the beginning of this year.
"Contrary to popular belief, the memorials make reference to all sorts of types and classes of people.
"A deed of 1808 allowed us to flesh out an entry in the death index to a widowed shopkeeper called Jane Rooney, noting her address as South Great George's, Dublin and her maiden surname as Kirk.
"It also linked her to her married sister, Matilda McDonnell.
"Another deed, from 1795, named the late Robert Dempsey of Co. Wexford, noting his widow as Catherine, with a maiden surname of Cardiff."
The census data includes both original material - that which survived the great fire of 1922 - and transcripts of that which did not.
Counties Fermanagh, Kilkenny, Tipperary and Waterford are particularly represented.
The return for the Greene family from Clonmel, Co. Tipperary in the 1841 census – data entered into the Death Index - was particularly poignant.
It noted George Greene, a publican, and then lists the members of his household who had predeceased him.
These were his first wife, Margaret, who died in 1828, and four of his children: Michael, Patrick, James and Margaret, who died in 1833, 1837, 1831 and 1833 respectively, aged from 3 months to 10 years.
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