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I've been looking back at my Irish ancestry (1800's ish) and it has been a fascinating experience. I've found out a lot about Ireland that you don't get taught in English schools (or didn't when I was a lad). My family were forced off one property after the grandfather and grandmother died (named sub-tenants) and then the younger folks got into more difficulties and were thrown off yet another rented plot when the father, then later, the mother died (after then being in the workhouse). It seems that they are buried in a mass grave, having being wrapped in a sheet and covered over with lime (for hygiene!). My great grandfather, then a teenager, was moved to England, to work in the Durham mines, as a hewer (pickworking at the coal face). This whole episode was a created situation by the English government to "sort out" the Irish "problem", that was large families living on small plots in self sufficiency. Plus a lot of other financial incentives for the "landed gentry", who had the land given to them by royal decree of previous kings who sent in French mercenaries to again, sort out the Irish "problem" of tribal warfare! My ancestor was one of the Irish kings, killed by one of the mercenaries soldiers, by spearing him in the back.
The information about the workhouse was gained through a local visit and was given by word of mouth from another descendant of the workhouse inmates. She also gave me accounts of folks buried in fields because they were illegitemate or had birth defects causing death before baptism. (The church refused to allow them in their burial grounds!) Many of my relatives (and others that I have spoken to) seem to have just disappeared from the records. The official line seems to have been that may have been buried locally during famine or plague times, or they may have just emigrated! Some very strange "record keeping" also shows some children being baptised before they were born (or registered late is more likely as you could be fined for not registering!) As many of the forms seem to have been signed with an "X" for "his/her mark" as they couldn't read or write, a lot of reliance was placed on the local registrars. Many farmers only travelled to town to trade, so weeks or months could pass between visits! Feeding the family would definitely be more important than paperwork (an attitude that I have often seen in my own family!).