7 Essential Resource Websites For Irish Family History Research.
There are a number of great family history research websites available where you can now research your Irish ancestors online from the comfort of your own home.
More and more are becoming available on line, it can be difficult to keep track at times, but we can’t complain as it is becoming more accessible for people to trace their ancestors in Ireland from any part of the world.
Many of the essential websites now available include:-
National Archives of Ireland www.nationalarchives.ie:
The National Archives of Ireland website contains some of the following:-
1901/1911 Census of Ireland and Census fragments Census fragments and substitutes, 1821-51. www.census.nationalarchives.ie
Tithe Applotment Books, 1827 to 1837. titheapplotmentbooks
The Tithe Applotment books were compiled between 1823 and 1838 in order to determine the amount which occupiers of agricultural holdings over one acre should pay in tithes to the Church of Ireland. There is a manuscript book for almost every parish in the country giving the names of occupiers.
You can search by parish, townland or name of ancestor.
Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1858 to 1920 and 1922 to 1982.
Griffith Valuation http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/
The AskaboutIreland website contains the Index to the Griffith Valuation.
Griffith Valuation was the valuation of all the property and land in the country for tax purposes between 1847 and 1864. It lists every landholder and householder in Ireland. This is particularly useful if your family/ancestor were farmers or lived rural. You can search by surname and place name.
National Library of Ireland www.nli.ie:
The National Library of Ireland website contains Catholic Parish Registers. You can search the original digitalised Parish registers by parish month and year.
Not searchable by name.
Irish Genealogy https://www.irishgenealogy.ie
The Irish Genealogy website contains the following:-
Church Records.
Irish Genealogy website contains both Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland church records for some of and not all, Dublin, Kerry, Cork and Laois.
A small number of Presbyterian records for a congregation in Lucan.
Civil Records.
Just recently added to Irish Genealogy website is Civil Records (births, marriages and deaths), another wonderful resource!
Births: commencing from 1864 to 1915.
Marriages: commencing from 1882 to 1940.
Deaths: commencing from 1891 to 1965
The General Register Office are currently working on updating further records of Marriages dating back to 1845 and Deaths dating back to 1864. So keep checking regularly for updates.
Dublin City Archives http://databases.dublincity.ie
The Dublin City Archives Website contains some of the following:-
1908 to 1915 Electoral Rolls. Search by name and address.
Dublin Directory 1647-1706 consists of names of Dublin citizens; the parish or street in which they lived; occasionally their trade or occupation. (This is a wonderful source for those of you with family/ancestors that lived in Dublin).
Subscription websites: (pay as you go):-
Contains transcripts of Irish church records, death and burial, civil records etc.
Where possible always try to look at the original source, as majority of the records are transcribed.
www.findmypast.ie : contains extensive Irish records, for example; military records, prison registers, occupational records, newspapers, workhouse and poor law unions, immigration and travel and much more.
When researching online always allow for spelling variations of first-name, surnames and place names. Ages can be recorded incorrectly so always allow for this when researching.
There are still a lot of records that are not online and are held at local custody or a genealogical repository. It is always a privilege to be able to hold and look at the original record, such as estate records, original wills, deeds, church registers, land and property records and much more.
Elaine Hannon has run a successful business in Genealogy (Elaine Hannon Genealogy) since 2011, providing professional genealogical research to clients in Ireland and all around the world. Her expertise is in genealogical research for the whole of Ireland, heir hunter, probate, adoption - tracing parents and connecting, record retrieval service.
Elaine is a member of Accredited Genealogists Ireland (formerly the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland (APGI).
Elaine is also one of a team of consultants in the Genealogy Advisory Service at the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin. http://www.ehgenealogy.com/
