How to transcribe townland index entries
Background
FamilySearch has been published the images from the microfilms of the townland (or land) indexes in the Registry of Deeds. This is a tremendous boon for researchers as they can view indexes on line.
The townland index is is in rough alphabetic order in county, noting that I and J were considered the same letter in the 18th century. The grantors and grantee names are included in the index. Nobles are indexed under their title as are bishops in many cases.
Where to start
We have created a guide that helps you get into the virtual microfilms on FamilySearch. So start be going to the guide. Select an image by timeframe and county.
Below is a bit of a typical page from the 1708–29 part of the index. it is very clear and pretty easy to read.
The transcription of the Knockigrady entries would be the following:
| Denomination | County | Barony | Parish | Town | Party1 | Oth1 | Party2 | Oth2 | Vol_no | Page_no | Memorial | Year_range | Notes | Indexer | Image No |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knockigrady | Clare | Tulla | RINGROSE | RINGROSE | 136 | 200 | 91065 | 1739-1810 | Roz McC | 96 | |||||
| Knockigrady | Clare | Tulla | BOWERMAN | O | BOWERMAN | 188 | 456 | 126310 | 1739-1810 | Roz McC | 96 | ||||
| Knockigrady | Clare | Tulla | BOWERMAN | O | DREW | 188 | 457 | 126311 | 1739-1810 | Roz McC | 96 | ||||
| Knockigrady | Clare | Tulla | DREW | BOWERMAN | O | 188 | 457 | 126311 | 1739-1810 | Roz McC | 96 | ||||
| Knockigrady | Clare | Tulla | RINGROSE | O | DREW | 364 | 141 | 243496 | 1739-1810 | Roz McC | 96 | ||||
| Knockigrady | Clare | Tulla | RINGROSE | O'CALLAGHAN | 371 | 109 | 247852 | 1739-1810 | Roz McC | 96 |
The two columns headed Oth are used to indicate where there are more than one grantor/grantee. "O" is used to indicate the index image has "&ors"
after a family name as here:
"H" is used where there is "husband" and "W" for when there is "wife".