National Library

Property and land holding records in Ireland are more important than they might otherwise be because of the absence of 19th century census records.

They are often the only way of filling in the gaps, and fortunately are very extensive. The downside is that many emigrants were not from land owning families.

If an Irish ancestor was involved in a trade or profession, worked for the government or was in the church or military, chances are they appear in a trade publication.

Quite a number of these are available, but like the land records they will not generally include mention of the very poorest people, who made up the majority of emigrants.