It seems like I have always known that we didn't have the Irish census' to help us with our genealogical research. It is just a fact, get over it and move on.
Well the work I have done with the remnants of the Cavan census of 1821 has brought home to me the extent of what was lost. I need to take a moment and mourn them. Not only does it give the names of every member of a household, it gives their age, relationship to the head of household and occupation.
It also tells about any thing unusual on the townland such as a cemetery, a mill, a school and how many boy and girls attend the school. It is a wonderful resource and when I consider how helpful it would have been I want to just cry.
So everyone who is Irish, let's just bow our heads and have a moment of silence as we mourn what could have been if it wasn't for the thoughtlessness of our ancestors and the government who have shown just how little they cared about keeping amazing records safe.
We may never be able to find what we need to make our family connections because of this and it happened within the last 100 years. How sad is that?
That is sad. I know many records have been lost over the centuries, but the ones lost in (relative) modern day is tragic. At this point in time we should know the value of history.
ReplyDeleteYou would think that wouldn't you but they turned the census into pulp during the first world war, it is such a major loss.
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