Irish External Resources

Profile manager: Leigh Murrin [send private message]

This is a page for members of the Irish Roots Project to share their recommended on-line resources for researching Irish ancestry.

The most important piece of advice about research in Ireland is that using surname variants in your searching is essential - do not ignore them as otherwise you could be missing out on that record of your ancestor that will break your brick wall! A helpful explanation of why using surname variants in Irish research is so critical can be found here.

More helpful resources for Irish Research compiled by Irish Roots project member Richard Devlin, particularly based on geographic locations and counties, can be found here.

General Websites for Records (including Northern Ireland)

• Irish Genealogy - A website dedicated to helping you search for family history records - you can access some parish records but, most importantly, PDFs of all GRO civil registration birth, marriages and deaths in Ireland (including Northern Ireland) recorded from 1864 for free! Note that non-Catholic marriages from 1845 onwards are also recorded here. (Note: some of the earlier records are not yet available.) If you have ancestors who were born, died or married in Ireland during this time, you absolutely must visit this website. The information often includes next of kin, place of residence, informants, who was present at a birth. Its all good stuff!!

Note 1	It should be noted that no records are available for the most current 100, 75, and 50 years for birth, marriages, and deaths respectively
Note 2	The General Register Office (GRO) are working on a tranche of Marriage (pre 1882) and Death (pre 1891) records as well as an additional year of all Birth, Marriage and Death Records. These will be added soon. Further details will be publicised on the website in due course.

• The Irish Censuses. You can search all the Irish census returns from 1841 to 1911 for free on this site. Note that the data is incomplete for all census years apart from 1901 and 1911.
• Griffiths Valuation 1847-1864 search the original pages for free.
• The Tithe Applotment Books. Compiled between 1823 and 1837 in order to determine the amount which occupiers of agricultural holdings over one acre should pay in tithes to the Church of Ireland. Almost every civil parish is covered and included the names of occupiers of each townland, the amount of land held and the sums to be paid in tithes. You can search by name of location.
• The National Archives of Ireland. Search the catalog - most items are not online but you might get lucky.
• Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1858 - 1920, search to see if your ancestors made a will. The tool covers the whole of Ireland up until 1917 and includes Name, address, occupation and financial effects on death of testator (person who made the will); Date of death of testator; Date and place of probate of will or grant of letters of administration; Name(s) and address(es) of executors/beneficiaries of the will, and relationship, if it exists, to testator; Marital status of all women mentioned.
• Roots Ireland contains data from 34 county genealogy centres in Ireland. The main sources on the site are Irish Catholic and other church records of baptisms, marriages and deaths which are the most important source for tracing Irish ancestry.
• National Library of Ireland
• Catholic Parish Registers at the National Library of Ireland. Free to access images of mostly 19th century Catholic parish records. These are not indexed - if you have a subscription to Ancestry and FMP then you can search these records by name].
• Family Search, link to Irish records accessible on Family Search.
• Soldiers Wills. The National Archives have put a small collection of soldiers wills on line.
• Ireland Cemetery Records, free online search for cemeteries across Ireland (similar to Find A Grave).
• Cyndi's List for Ireland and Northern Ireland
• Discover ever after Free cemetery site of photos of headstones etc. Searchable by name. Covers multiple cemeteries for all religions in many counties.
• Ireland’s History in Maps Old Maps of Ireland.
• The Ireland GenWeb Project contains many links to useful sources at both a national and county level.
• Irish Graveyards, aka Irish Graveyard Surveyors - searchable database of Irish cemeteries. Limited mainly to larger graveyards in and around Connacht. Most of the information on IGS is also available of Find A Grave but Find A Grave is sparse on photographs. Photos on IGS are strictly copyright.
• Dúchas.ie or the Irish Schools Collection is a wonderful source of local folklore and stories (linked to civil parishes and townlands in Ireland) recorded by Irish schoolchildren during the period 1937-1939. You can search by name or place and discover all kinds of gems about the oral history and folklore of the locations your ancestors lived in. The site is looking for volunteers to transcribe the records.
• Northern Ireland GenWeb new website from May/June 2017. Contains many online BMD records for all Ulster Counties.
• Ulster Ancestry Free pages - wealth of information and data dating back to Ulster Plantation.
• Registry of Deeds Index Project Ireland The purpose of this project is to provide finding aids for the records held at the Registry of Deeds in Dublin. There are three sets of indexes produced by the project: The main indexof memorial transcription books; The grantors index; The townland index. Each of these index databases can be searched on a number of fields. None, of course, is complete.

County Specific Resources

Please see Richard Devlin's resources page. In addition:

• Sources Ireland by Province County
• Clare County Library contains many search engines with information about ancestors who lived in County Clare. A must if you are researching ancestry in Clare.
• "Report of W. H. Curran appointed to investigate the conduct of the police employed in the collection of the tithes in the county of Monaghan" by W. H. Curran, publ 1834
• "Correspondence relating to National Schools of Drumgarley, Rakeeragh and Tattenclave, in County Monaghan " Communication from J. Lentaigne, one of Inspectors General of Prisons in Ireland to Chief Secretary for Ireland pub 1887
• Historical sketches of Monaghan : from the earliest records to the Fenian movement by Denis Carolan Rushe, publ 1895
• ‘’The History of Enniskillen, with some references to the Manors in Co. Fermanagh and other subjects’’ by W. Copeland Trimble, Volume 1 (1919).
• Fermanagh Gold- Lots of free information for anyone researching ancestors in Femanagh county.
• John Grenham Fermanagh
• County Mayo research site
• County Kerry Resources
• My Kerry Ancestors, lots of links to websites and databases pertaining to Kerry ancestry
• Leitrim-Roscommon Genealogy lots of links to websites and databases pertaining to Leitrim and Roscommon ancestry
• PRONI, Public Register Office of Northern Ireland. Note that many Northern Irish records prior to 1917 can be found on the Irish GRO and National Archives websites (see above) for free.
• 17th century databases Data bases of Antrim and Londonderry Muster Rolls and Hearth Money Rolls (1660)
• County Cavan Has links to other counties too.

Irish Immigration (General)

• The Boston Pilot Missing Friends Column. Search to see if anyone published a 19th century advert in the Boston Pilot searching for your ancestors who had migrated from Ireland to the United States. 41,249 records are available.
• Irish Famine Immigrants to the United States 1846-1851, searchable database of records relating to these immigrants.
• Boston Passenger Lists 1820-1963
• Online US Catholic Parish Registers, links to some useful sources by state.
• Family Search Ireland Emigration and Immigration List of online databases Several useful links and advice on locating where in Ireland your ancestors came from.

Good Blogs

• Irish Genealogy News informative blog run by Irish Genie Clare Santry.
• Irish Genealogical Society news and information from the IGS about Irish research
• John Grenham – Irish Roots select the link to 'Home' and then 'wizard' for research recommendations and links
• Cyndi's List for Ireland and Northern Ireland
• Genealogy in Time Magazine Gives update of latest online info available from various sources
• The Irish Wattle, blog devoted to Irish immigration to Australia with particular emphasis on Irish convicts.
• Townland of Origin, great blog about Irish Genealogical Research in North America.

Irish DNA Resources

• Dr. Maurice Gleeson is a well known speaker and Irish DNA specialist. He has posted many useful videos on this topic, as well as conference materials, and his website is a great source for information.

Guides and Help for Conducting Irish Research

• Irish Naming Patterns - Wikitree page
• Family Search: Historic Ireland (pre-1922 Research)
• An Introduction to Irish Family History, a useful introduction to researching Irish ancestry and the resources available to help you do that (includes links to helpful websites and topics such as Civil Records, Parish Records, Censuses, Poor Law Records and the history of Irish surnames.
• Irish Genealogy Toolkit A good advice and site pointers for Irish searches.
• Family Search Ireland Research page includes links to all their Irish research and learning centre videos.
• Ireland Reaching Out Connect with Irish Volunteers helping Irish Researchers.
• RootsChat - A genealogy forum Ireland - part of a British Isles centric forum that extends globally.
• Bespoke Genealogy - Find free Irish Vital Records
• Church of Ireland - details of what parish records survive and where they are
• PRONI publications Guide to all church records in Ulster and some surrounding Counties. Lists what records there are all denominations

Further Reading

• Mother and Baby homes in Ireland A standard Reference guide and Timeline of Mother and Baby homes, adoption, and the treatment of single mothers and their children in Ireland from 1739 to 2015

Irish Clans and Surnames

• Finte na hÉireann Clans of Ireland
• List of Irish Clans List of Irish Clan Websites.
• The Origins of Irish Family Names Origins of Irish Names
• Old Irish Kingdoms & Clans Old Irish Kingdoms & Clans
• A guide to Irish Christian Names
• Irish Clan Septs Irish Septs (PDF file).Adobe Acrobat or reader required to read this file.
• Irish Clan Map Irish clan map
• Irish Clan History Irish Clan History (HTML Document)
• Irish Pedigrees Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation (HTML BOOK)
• The Book of Irish Families (Great & Small) (HTML BOOK)
• Irish Clan System- Understanding The Ancient Irish Clan System
• A guide to Irish Christian Names
• Down Survey of Ireland 1656-1658 Trinity College Dublin - maps showing who owned what land prior to Cromwells redistribution
• Full Text of the Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland 1642
• NAMES OF THE CROMWELLIAN ADVENTURERS FOR LAND IN IRELAND
• Searchable Maps giving distribution of surnames in Ireland 1901/1911.

Medieval Ireland

• https://www.academia.edu/37705514/MIGRANCY_IN_MEDIEVAL_IRELAND_merchants_monks_miscreants_and_mercenaries?email_work_card=title

Dubious Resources - Proceed with Caution

• John O'Hart's Irish Pedigrees can be easily found on the internet but should be treated with extreme caution. See this G2G website for more information.