1901 and 1911 Irish census search tip

I've been in heavy Irish mode this week, both with research for a client with a Glasgow connection, and for myself, thanks to the new GRONI online records system. As such, I've been using just about every website under the sun to help corroborate records, but as as part of that I've discovered a wee tip that might help some when doing census searches.

The 1901 and 1911 censuses have been digitised and made available for some time now by the National Archives of Ireland at www.census.nationalarchives.ie. Last October, Ancestry also uploaded indexes to the two censuses on its site at http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=70667 (1901) and http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=70564 (1911). Perform a search on these and you will be taken to a page of results, which when clicked on will take you directly to the NAI website for the original image.

That's great, but what I had not twigged back then was that there is additional search capability on the Ancestry search platform. In addition to the person you are searching for, you can also narrow down the amount of entries returned by adding in the name of a father, mother, spouse or child - something that cannot be done on the NAI site itself, even in its Advanced Search mode.

So if like me, you have a John Smith in your tree, and it's all been a bit grim so far in hunting him down - have another go via Ancestry! You don't need an Ancestry account to use its census databases, they are free to access.

Chris

Time to find your inner Irish...! All the best online Irish genealogy resources can be found through my book Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet - in print and ebook formats. "Very useful, makes me wish I was Irish!" - Saint Patrick, patron saint.