Protestant notebook goes online
A notebook that offers a vivid insight into the lives of Dublin’s Protestant community has been published online.
The Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS) and Clontarf & Scots Presbyterian congregation have digitised and published the Dublin Presbyterian Colporteur’s Notebook online at irishancestors.ie, where it is available for family historians to explore.
Comprising 227 pages, the handwritten document was created in 1875 by William Malone, a religious book distributor or ‘colporteur’ who was employed by the Ormond Quay Presbyterian congregation. Over the course of 10 months, Malone jotted down details of around 10,000 innercity Protestants, providing information such as occupation and address.
He also wrote about local living conditions, commenting on the squalor that Dublin’s working class residents had to endure at the time.
“This major new resource fills a huge void left by the lack of 19th-century census records for Dublin,” said IGRS president Steven Smyrl.
“Many of the descendants of the families noted are no doubt scattered across the globe and this will enable them to bring their research back another generation or two and identify where they came from.”
Access to the document scans is restricted to IGRS members, but an index to the records is free to search.