In the most recent episode of Who Do You Think You Are? US Bryan Cranston, star of the TV shows Breaking Bad and Malcolm in the Middle, traced his Cranston ancestry back through American and Canadian records to his great great grandparents, Joseph Cranston and Sarah McLeod. Bryan Cranston’s Irish OriginsDuring the course of his search, Bryan discovered
Read MoreIrish Wills
I recently found a transcript of an Irish will in the District Registry Wills Books in the National Archives of Ireland. These are an often forgotten source for testamentary records because the assumption is that all Irish wills and letters of administration were destroyed in 1922, but this is not the case. District Registry Will Books Will books survive
Read MoreA Note on Burial Registers
Roman Catholic Burial Registers are relatively uncommon in Ireland prior to the 1830s and those that do exist seldom offer more detail than the name of the deceased. However, Burial Registers for Church of Ireland Parishes, where those records survived the fire at the Public Records in 1922, can be quite informative. Standardised forms were introduced
Read MoreA Will Proved a Century Ago: What Can be Done Online?
As an exercise in what can be achieved in online research I recently randomly opened-up a copy of the Calendar of Wills & Administrations for a century ago and read the following calendar entry: HOPKINS, Miles Richard. 10th January 1912. Probate of Will of Miles Richard Hopkins late of 1 Lower Sackville Street, Dublin and 1 Brighton Terrace,
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