You would like to research your Irish roots, but you don't know enough about your Irish ancestors. So where do you startprivacyPolicy.html
Whether you are in the USA, Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Argentina, South Africa or elsewhere in the world (and we Irish are everywhere!) your goal is to identify the person or persons who originally emigrated from Ireland in order to discover all about your Irish ancestry.
You will be seeking to identify an ancestor or ancestors, their spouse/s, their children, their siblings and their parents names if possible, and the names of other relatives like uncles and aunts. You will also need to know their approximate dates of birth, marriage and death, and the county or preferably the parish or townland that they came from, their occupation and finally the approximate year of immigration to your country.
Find out everything that there is to know about your Irish line from your parent/s, their siblings, your grandparents, and their siblings, or failing that, their close friends. Check to see if any of your cousins have done any work already that may be of help.
You will be particularly interested in recording the names of your ancestors, the places in which they lived and the dates or estimated dates of their births, marriages and deaths. Events like their emigration from Ireland and other significant events in their lives may have been recorded somewhere, along with, hopefully, additional useful information.
Take note of your source for each bit of information - who told you, how they know it is true, what you were shown, when you found it, whether the information was supported by an official document like a birth certificate. Get copies of all documents, certificates and photographs that you can.
If you have a computer, there are lots of genealogy packages available to record your family tree as well as all of the supporting documentation like certificates, letters and photographs etc.
Go from what you know to the unknown. Details of the ancestor that you have most information on will help you in you search for other ancestors.
Start with the most recent information that you know, i.e. your parent/s, and then work backwards. Each link must be solid or proven. Don't assume things.
We all like to believe that we are descended from King Brian Boru (died 1014), or that our people owned a large estate in Ireland before they were dispossessed, but for the moment it is better to rely on facts. Sometimes there is a grain of truth or more in these stories, but usually they have 'improved in the telling' to say the least.
This will put you in touch with other people researching their genealogy. Whilst they may not be researching Irish genealogy, you'll find support and lots of useful tips.
This will keep you up-to-date with genealogy news.
Seek out old letters, family bible entries and photographs. Look up obituaries in old newspapers and publications if you have an idea of the person's date of death. If the ancestor was a member of any organizations check to see if there are any records available.
You should also seek naturalization papers, passport applications, and army, police or fire-service records if applicable. Wills, Probate and Administration papers should also be checked out.
Have a search for gravestone inscriptions in the cemetery where they were buried. These will often give you the estimated age, which in turn will give you an idea of the date of birth. Sometimes they will also provide you with the name of their place of birth, the names of their families and other unexpected information.
Call to the local library nearest to where your ancestor lived and check for what archives are available. There may be old newspaper archives and these may be indexed. You can then check for notices of births, marriages and deaths as well as obituaries.
When you have discovered rough dates of birth, marriage or death of ancestors you are now ready to apply for their registered details and certificates where required.
It is essential to check out Census records for your own country. Enquire about them at your library or Records Office. Census records will provide you amazing information like family relationships, ages, place of birth etc.
If you know the church that your ancestor attended (no matter how infrequently), then enquire about their baptismal, marriage and burial records.
Call in to the nearest Church of Latter Day Saints or Mormon center where you can get lots of help. They have huge databases of genealogical records and are well worth contacting or visiting even if you are not of their faith.
Make contact with larger libraries and archives that may have documents, information and services. This could prove to be very worthwhile.
Get on the internet and check out everything you can find. Check out sites relating to the Irish in your own country, as well as those dealing with Irish genealogy. Use the search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Altavista etc to find more specific sites. There are literally hundreds of thousands of genealogy sites. Place messages on their message boards or forums seeking help with aspects of your search. There are also many international commercial sites like www.ancestry.com, www.cyndislist.com, www.genealogy.com.
In the case of immigration to your country, find out when they travelled, how they travelled, which ship, which port of departure from Ireland and which port of arrival they used. Libraries and websites will also help here. There are lots of ships lists online, however there are few details available at the Irish end. Check out www.ellisisland.com.
For Australians it may be worth checking convict transportation records as well as the many other excellent genealogical records that are available in Australia.
Most importantly, in all of your research, you will be trying to determine your ancestor's county of origin in Ireland, their civil parish and finally their townland or town, village or city.
It would also help if you knew whether they were originally Roman Catholic (the majority grouping by far), Church of Ireland or other Protestant Church, Presbyterian or, indeed, if they were members of one of the other religious groupings that were less common in Ireland. If you know the Townland name it becomes much simpler.
It would also be helpful if you had the names of some or all of your subject's siblings and roughly when they were born or married. Their parents' names would be especially useful. The reason is that in some cases the surname and given name are very commonly found in a particular region.
Sometimes it is difficult to identify the region where your ancestor lived in Ireland. It will help to narrow down the search or to at least focus or prioritize it if you can have a look at the distribution of that surname in Ireland at the time. We can help you with this.
Generally, Catholic families named the eldest son after the paternal grandfather (the father's father), the second son after the maternal grandfather and the third after the father. The first daughter was often called after the maternal grandmother and the second after the paternal grandmother but this sometimes varied.
These practices were not compulsory but traditional and lasted up to the middle of the 20th century in many cases.
Additionally, their circumstances at the time of or prior to emigration from Ireland would be worth knowing. Were they tenant farmers just like about 90% of Irish emigrants who left after the Great Irish Famine (1845-48)privacyPolicy.html Had they a tradeprivacyPolicy.html Were they descended from people of meansprivacyPolicy.html If so you may be able to trace back a bit further.
You can expect numerous different spellings of the same surname to turn up in your research. It is essential when searching through records or databases to try a few variants of the surname. Example: O'Dochartaigh (Irish), O'Doherty, Doherty, Dogherty, Docherty, Dougherty, Dority, Daugherty etc. This is mainly a County Donegal name.
So, don't focus your search just on the spelling that now exists. Check all variants including dropping or adding the O', the Mc. or the Mac etc.
It is quite common to find various forms and spellings of the surname being used by one family line at different stages of the family tree.
In following the above advice the genealogical bug will soon have bitten, and a rewarding and magical new interest will be yours forever. You will now be sure of greater success in commissioning research from Irish Genealogy Center.com.
In addition, the biggest bonus will be bridging the oceans or continents and hopefully making a historic future return journey to the place that your ancestors left all those years ago. At the very least, the future generations of your family will be grateful for the Irish heritage that you have rediscovered for them.
Contact us now for an assessment, and we will advise you of the best course of action. We will analyse your information and lay out a program of research specifically designed for your needs. We will also provide you with information on your ancestors surname, a guide to relevant available Irish records and administrative divisions and information on the area of Ireland that your ancestor came from. To order an assessment Click Here.
Should you not yet have enough information collected on your recent ancestors then you can register your interest and we will contact you in the coming months. You can also bookmark our site in your favorites section and keep a note reminding you to return to Irish Genealogy Center.com.
The best of Irish luck in your search.