Ireland Ancestry Records
Ireland Genealogical Records
Ireland ancestry records are generally full of information about the genealogy of your ancestors, so Irish-Americans looking to search through a family history that dates back to Ireland can probably expect to find reliable information. I’ve discussed this a couple of times on this site, but it bears repeating whenever the subject comes out. Certain churches, due to their copious genealogical or ceremonial records, greatly help when searching for information about your forebears.
The Irish public records, for instance, are greatly enhanced by the records of the Irish Catholic Church. Because many Catholic rituals are entered into the local church records, you can learn a lot about your ancestry by studying the Catholic records, if your ancestors were Roman Catholic.
Since most native Irish traditionally are Roman Catholic, you have a pretty good chance of finding good information about your genealogy through the Catholic records. Since most Catholic baptisms historically involved newborn children, you get a pretty good idea of the year, if not the month or even week, in which your ancestors were born by looking at the baptism records.
With all that in mind, here are some tips when you begin searching through the Irish ancestry records.
Talk To Your Oldest Living Family
Be armed with as much information as you can, before you even begin to search through the family history records of Ireland. Talk to your oldest living family members, focusing specifically on those older cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents who might have some knowledge of the old country or who might keep family information on your ancestors. Often, they will have stories, anecdotes and info that no one else in the family will have, because no one has thought to ask them. When you can, ask more than one from the same generation, to see if their ancestry information contradicts one another.
Search Through Family Books and Photographs
Search through old family books and photos to see if names are written on these family keepsakes. Sometimes, you’ll see a list of names and years on a photograph, which might give you further insight into the family membership. Books often have a name inscribed inside the front cover or title page of who this book belonged to. Your ancestors are especially likely to have written their name on their copy of the Bible.
Research Ellis Island Dotcom
The Ellis Island website houses the records of immigrants to the country from 1890 to 1924, when a new wave of Irish immigrants came to the United States. If they passed through Ellis Island on their way to the U.S. from Ireland, your ancestry information could be well-kept on the Ellis Island site.
Draw Up a Family Tree
To better get an idea of your family’s genealogical tree, sit down with a piece of paper and create an informal family tree. This will help you visualize where your ancestors fit into the picture. You might have blanks in the family tree, but you’ll at least know where the holes are in the story. Consider an incomplete family tree to be like a jigsaw puzzle. You need to find the missing pieces of the puzzle to complete the picture.
Research the Irish Public Records
The Irish took a public census every ten years throughout the 19th century, so these records should exist in some form. Due to the Irish Civil War and the destruction of government files during that unstable period, many of the records are lost or destroyed. Keep this in mind while searching.
Research the Proni Records
“Proni” is the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland. If you have a decent idea where your 19th century ancestors lived in Ireland, you can search through these records to see when and where they voted (if they qualified to vote in that more restrictive time). The Proni records can give some invaluable ancestry information, especially if your cousins across the ocean were from Northern Ireland.
Use Ulster Ancestry
Ulster Ancestry has specific information for those who lived in Northern Ireland, the part of Eire which was protestant and tended to sympathize with the British occupation with Ireland. After Irish home rule was established, Northern Ireland continued its separate existance from the remainder of the Irish nation. Their records were less damaged in the civil war and therefore is a good resource of 19th century Ireland’s ancestry records.
If you’re looking up information for the Irish counties of Tyrone, Derry & Londonderry, Armagh, Fermanagh, Antrim, Down and Donegal, you might be in luck searching through Ulster Ancestry.
Check the National Archives for Church Records
Many of the Catholic Church records are held in the Irish National Archives, which can be accessed in person or online via the Internet. Many records from 1850 and before will only be found in the religious archives, because the clerics were the only people recording this information at the time.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Genealogical Records. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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