No research into Irish family history would be complete without the opportunity to look at the location of land and get details about the family’s holdings in rural Ireland. Land often played a key social, economic, and cultural role for many families living in rural areas.
FACT 1
Until the 1900s, most Irish land (97%) was rented. The majority of the population before the famine had little or no access to land ownership. Indeed, in the 1780s, 5000 landlord families owned over 95% of all productive land.
FACT 2
Before the famine, it was often said that intermarriages were arranged between a bride and groom who lived within 5 miles of each other. Families often married into the same families for several generations. Additionally, small communities were established within land holdings through which individuals played a role in the community, such as the ability to make clothing, repair tools, and build walls.
FACT 3
Traditionally, land was located in a cooperative settlement known as a klochan. This meant that a plot of land was occupied by several related families. Each of them cultivated their own fields, and some fields were shared. Due to penal laws, most Catholic families could not own land, but they often had the opportunity to enter into long-term leases or leases for several lifetimes, which allowed them to stay on the land for several generations.
FACT 4
Tenancies for life were made by landlords and tenants, who often listed young children as one of the tenants. This allowed for a lifetime lease if the young child lived to a ripe old age.
FACT 5
In order for families to support themselves and run their households more efficiently, marriages were often arranged on the basis of land owned by the bride or groom. If the tenant had no sons, the daughter who married often had a land dowry, and the husband “married on the spot”. This helped ensure that the family continued to occupy the land, although the name often died.
FACT 6
The famine changed many land tenure traditions. Many families found that their holdings were no longer sustainable and they needed to either add to them or allow their children to emigrate from the land. Sons and daughters who were sent abroad were often required to send money home so that land could be leased and added to the property.
FACT 7
The tenants’ rights movement, which began before the Great Famine but gained momentum during the 1840s and 1850s, was the beginning of a push for greater self-determination over property. This ultimately led to the Land Acts of the 1880s, which allowed tenants to seek rent reductions from the courts, and the Land Acts of the early 1900s, which enabled tenants to purchase their land through the purchase of land rents.
FACT 8
Storing land and property records online has never been easier, and if you are looking for ancestors before the mid-1800s, the records below will be invaluable.