Ireland is a really perplexing place for genealogical resources. Half the country is trying to bleed you dry financially to pay for resources - the other half is handing them to you on a plate! Top Northern Irish repository PRONI is once again leading the way - 100,000 images for wills probated in the north from 1858-1900 have now been placed freely online to accompany the already existant index, which has been on the site for a couple of years. AND - they have extended the coverage of the index to 1943!!!
Commenting on the release, Culture Minister Nelson McCausland said: “One of PRONI’s key goals is to digitise key cultural resources and make them easily available to a worldwide audience. This free of charge application will therefore be of enormous assistance to anyone trying to trace their genealogical roots and will be of particular help to those wanting to begin their research from the comfort of their own home.
“In recent years there has been a huge increase in people researching their family history and trends have shown that a large number of these people are from outside the UK. I am sure this new application will be of particular interest to this international audience.”
Here's the blurb from the PRONI site:
This application provides a fully searchable index to the will calendar entries for the three District Probate Registries of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry, with the facility to view the entire will calendar entry for each successful search. The database covers the period 1858-1919 and 1922-1943. Part of 1921 has been added, with remaining entries for 1920-1921 to follow in the near future.
Digitised images of entries from the copy will books covering the period 1858-1900 are now available online, allowing users to view the full content of a will. 93,388 will images are now available to view.
God is an Ulsterman. Never forget it...
(With thanks to Shauna Hicks via Twitter)
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
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