Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project

The volunteers of the Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project have been hard at work on the project over the past few months, greatly expanding the work already done.

The purpose of this project is to provide finding aids for the records held at the Registry of Deeds in Dublin. There are three sets of indexes produced by the project:

• The main index is building a name index for the memorial transcription books held at the Registry of Deeds
• The grantors index consists of transcriptions of the Registry of Deeds' grantors indexes
• The townland index consists of transcriptions of the Registry of Deeds' townland indexes

Each of these index databases can be searched on a number of fields. None, of course, is complete. Each has those index entries contributed by the project volunteers.

Since the last update in the middle of December, the free online index has expanded by nearly 11,000 entries and the Townland index has grown by nearly 60,000 new entries.

The Grantor Index now had 49,381 records indexed and is continuing to expand.

All the Indexes are free to search

Who Do You Think You Are Magazine

The latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.  

Inside this month's issue

• Search like a pro Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine editor Sarah Williams shares her expert advice on family history research

• Surname switch How to trace ancestors who changed their names

• Photo competition results See the winners of our first-ever family photo competition

• The history of women's football Sara Tor on the women who pioneered on the pitch

• Reader story Hazel Garas on how she investigated a murder in her family tree

• Plus: The best websites for Italian family history, finding divorce records, how to search the 1921 census and more

#52 Ancestors - Week 7 - Landed

For many families, throughout their histories there are numerous ties to the land.  For those fortunate enough to own land, those ties can be even deeper.  Whether our ancestors owned land or worked it, mined it or travelled it regularly, ties to land plays a major role in how our families evolved, developed and lived.

My father's family had strong ties to Fordham Hall (also called Manor Farm) in Essex, being tennants at the Hall for several generations.  Although they were not the owners, they were major local landholders and were the gentry of their small community.

Fordham Hall, Essex

The Green family of Fordham Hall farmed the land, kept a pack of foxhounds,and took part in many community events.  The article below, from the 'Essex Standard' on Friday 13 October 1837, mentions Isaac Green of Fordham as one of the judges at the annual meeting of the local Agricultural Society.

The wedding of Constance Green, daughter of Walter Proctor Green, in 1909 was a major event at Fordham Hall, with a large party attending and the event extensively reported in the local newspapers.  Below is a photograph of the wedding party, taken on the lawn at the rear of the Hall.