Important 19th Century Irish & English Genealogy Collections Now Available Online!

The William Smith O'Brien Petition is list of over 80,000 names and places from 1848/9, the time of the Great Famine. It is a valuable census substitute for that time, as well as an important historical resource. This is now available exclusively, along with other important Irish genealogy collections, on Irish Origins at http://www.irishorigins.com

For the family history researcher the William Smith O'Brien Petition records are essentially a census substitute: they give the names of people present at a particular place and time. Addresses are often given, and sometimes occupations. The petition was generated between October 1848 and May 1849, so during the Famine years in Ireland. These records complement those of the Griffith's Valuation, conducted between 1847 and 1864. Where a petitioner signatory was a head of household you may find that person's name in Griffith's Valuation - a useful cross-check.

Users can also select to display an image of the petition itself from each area where it was signed (not including all the signatures).

Full information about the William Smith O'Brien Petition and about O'Brien himself, can be found on Irish Origins at http://www.irishorigins.com

In addition, British Origins subscribers will now be able to search over 1.6 million names from the 1841 English Census with the addition of Essex and Suffolk counties.

The 1841 Census provides the earliest set of census data for England and Wales – earlier census records beginning in 1801 contained only numbers (counts) of people rather than their detailed information. The first counties of the 1841 Census became available in March this year and further counties are being added to the site on a monthly basis. The 1841 census and other exclusive English genealogy collections are available on British Origins at http://www.britishorigins.com

A further source of genealogical data available to British Origins subscribers is now available in the form of the Apprentices of Great Britain. Over 350,000 apprentice records from all over Great Britain (about 20% are Scottish) are now available for searching exclusively at http://www.britishorigins.com

They are of exceptional value to the family history researcher, containing the name of the apprentice, in most cases the name of the apprentice’s parent or guardian (usually the father, though sometimes the mother, if the father was dead), the place the apprentice came from, his father’s trade, the name of the master to whom he was indentured, the master’s trade, the place where the master lived, and the value of the premium paid to the master for taking on the apprentice.

About The Origins Network (www.originsnetwork.com)

The Origins Network (formerly Origins.net), specialists in British and Irish genealogy, was founded in 1997 and offers online access to some of the richest ancestral information available for genealogy research at http://www.originsnetwork.com

Origins Network services include subscription access to exclusive English genealogy related collections on British Origins (http://www.britishorigins.com) and to Irish genealogy related collections on Irish Origins (http://www.irishorigins.com), plus expert Scottish Old Parish records research on Scots Origins (http://www.scotsorigins.com).

Genealogical data unique to The Origins Network includes Irish and English census records (including exclusive access to the 1841 English census – England’s first), marriage registers, wills, valuation records, emigration passenger lists, court and apprentice records, as well as images such as original survey maps and vintage photographs. Most of this information is not available anywhere else on the internet.

Partnerships with leading archives and genealogical societies in the UK and Ireland, including the Society of Genealogists, Eneclann Ltd, The National Library of Ireland, and the Borthwick Institute for Archives, allow The Origins Network to provide exclusive online access to key sources, with an increasing emphasis on access to primary records, and to material which puts the “flesh on your ancestors bones”

For all enquiries, please contact:
Jane Hewitt, Origins Network, 12 Greenhill Rents, London, UK EC1M 6BN
jane@origins.net - phone: +44 (0)207 2516117