RSS
roots


Home Page > Roots > Searching your Irish roots online - Genealogy sites 101

Searching your Irish roots online - Genealogy sites 101

A guide to Irish genealogy websites and how to search on them

By
KATE HICKEY & JORDANA KOZUPSKY,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writers
Published Saturday, August 20, 2011, 7:09 AM
Updated Saturday, August 20, 2011, 7:50 AM

print this article Print
email this articleE-mail
comment on article 9 Comments
 



Over the past two years IrishCentral has witnessed history in the field of Irish genealogy. The 1901 and 1911 censuses are now online and provide a wealth of information for Irish Americans and Irish Diaspora all over the world.

The Internet has shown itself to be a massive asset when it comes to doing preliminary research on your Irish roots. Last August an Irish Voice story showed us just how useful the Internet can be as a professional genealogist traced, Margaret Kelly,  the oldest Irish woman in America’s, past back to her birth in Clare, in 1922, in just a couple of hours online.
------------------
READ MORE: New details on oldest living Irishwoman uncovered
-------------------
With over 70 million people around the world claiming Irish ancestry, there’s a chance that you have some Irish roots. Why not take look? Your Irish roots are only a click away.

We’ve put together  a list of some online genealogy sites that we though might help you connect with your Irish roots.

If you know of any other useful sites for our readers please let them know in the comments below.

Here's our list:

Ireland's National Archives

This site is most certainly one of the most valuable genealogy assets to have emerged in recent years. Here you can look back at the Census of Ireland from 1901 and 1911 and find your ancestors. The censuses also provide information on religion, occupation, relationship to head of family, literary status, county or country of origin, Irish language proficiency, illness and child survival information.

You can also view business records and national education records.

--------------------

READ MORE:

Patricia Harty: The Irish Census - finding my family online

Niall O'Dowd: A family secret revealed in 1901 Irish census

Top 100 Irish last names explained

--------------------
Ancestry.com

This site is truly incredible and really needs no introduction. This site can allow you access to records from all over the world. You can search for details on certificates, military records and a myriad of other details on your ancestors.

Irish Genealogy

This site allows access to the  records of the Catholic dioceses of Ireland, and Church of Ireland in certain counties, providing details on baptisms, marriages, and burials.This site also gives you tips on how to start your search and plan a visit to Ireland to search for more details.

General Register Office of Ireland

This is where birth adoptions, stillbirth, marriage and death certificates in Ireland live. Through this site you can get access to any of these certificates for the price of €10.

General Register Office of Northern Ireland

Similarly this site gives you access to certificate records in Northern Ireland from 1864 on.

Ellis Island records

The famous port of Ellis Island has a fantastic collection of records. It allows you to view the passenger manifest, ship manifest and even an image of the ship your ancestor arrived to the United States in. It also has a huge collection of histories, images and other fascinating information.

Ancestry Ireland

This site provides a service by which their experts will carry out the research into your ancestors and roots on your behalf. This site established by the Ulster Historical Foundation also allows you to do the research yourself they can give you access to birth, marriage and death certificates, gravestone inscriptions, and street directories. The also have detailed townland maps.

Internment.net

This website is used by genealogists and local historians to help them locate burials. You can track down where family members were buried and learn about the cemeteries.

Irish Canadian Emigration Records, 1823-1849

This site does exactly what it says on the tin. You can search for your ancestors by name or by a specific dates.

--------------------

READ MORE:

Patricia Harty: The Irish Census - finding my family online

Niall O'Dowd: A family secret revealed in 1901 Irish census

Top 100 Irish last names explained

--------------------

Clare Library


If your families roots are in County Clare then you’re in luck. This library website is a wealth of information on genealogy in the area , from list of tithe payments to group memberships and school registrations.

Belfast Families

This site contains records of 276,000 families in Belfast, apart from the east.

Immigrantships.net

Here you can search arrival zones boat by boat to find information on ancestors who emigrated from Ireland to the US, Argentina and several other locations.

RootsIreland.ie

Here you can carryout  a free search for birth, baptismal, marriage, burial, death, census, and gravestone inscription records

Landed Estates

This website allows you to search for information on historic houses in the regions of Connacht and Munster.

​
print this article Print
email this articleE-mail


9 Comments

See all comments

DaveMans | Aug 22, 2011, 06:18 PM EDT
Thanks for the informative article. It might be worth also mentioning that Griffiths valuation is available for free at www.askaboutireland.ie and provides townland maps. For Ulster ancestors I use the Public records Office Ni website at www.proni.gov.uk as it has a wealth of online genealogy records. Emerald Ancestors www.emeraldancestors.com is pretty good for BMD records in Northern Ireland, especially marriages.

Report abuse

Liam2435 | Aug 22, 2011, 10:50 AM EDT
Some years ago I prepared a site online http://postmanbill2.tribalpages.com/tribe/browse?userid=postmanbill2&view=78&rand=998510500&storyid=616 called Irish Genealogy - "A Family History Primer" by Liam Martin © Worth a look for listers starting to look up their Irish Roots

Report abuse

sravrannies | Aug 22, 2011, 04:17 AM EDT
Dompredo you make a good point. Searching your Irish Ancestors can be very exciting but also fustrating trying to understand the various land divisions and multiple variants of names etc. On-line resource are invaluable but often it is necessary to employ the resouces of an Irish based genealogist - to get to the root of the problem so to speak. Peter www.irishfamilyancestry.com

Report abuse

warlocks | Aug 20, 2011, 10:31 PM EDT
Hey Maybe I missed my Name on the List or maybe O' Sullivan is not an Irish Name ??? Idon't think is German or Polish Iknow from History Julius Caesar Had a Italian General named Sulla Close huh ?? lol

Report abuse

littlefoot1947 | Aug 20, 2011, 02:03 PM EDT
Thank you Irish Central for the Records info. We (my sister & I) will now have more sources to search for Our Gunning,& Fenton families. Ancestry.com has helped very much but you need as much information as you can get your hands on especially when you hunt for what seemed like an easy beginning turnes out to be a very complicted ball of yarn, especially when you work on all 4 sides.(grandparents both sides). You go from one to another when you come to a "brick wall" in one, then you try to fine the Kin folk in the other 3, when you hit a "brick wall" in all of them then you start bactracking,checking for info that you may have missed. Don't let this scare you off from tracking your family because I've found it is the best theraputic medicine in the world,you don't think about any of the "junk" that went on that day it's just, YOU & Your Family,Cousins,Aunts,Uncles,Greats&More Greats so very much fun.

Report abuse

Dompedro | Aug 20, 2011, 01:48 PM EDT
things are not quite as simple as IC would lead one to believe -- RootsIreland, for example, has merged or transfered its records to Irish Family History, where you can indeed search for many kinds of records for free, but where you cannot -SEE- any records without a fee, which is five pounds or punts or eus per record, and then the record for which you are looking may not be there, after having paid your fee: as far as they know, my 170 year old great-grandfather is still wandering around Ireland, and it cost 50 bucks or more to find out! .... Irish Genealogy is actually four counties (but, of course, includes the Kingdom): Ancestry Ireland really is Ulster ..... I have had good results with the county societies, but not with individual Irish based genealogists, who commonly just don't answer E-mails or other correspondence .... census records are neat and informative, but such a short period (rumor says, and we all know him) that the 1925 census may be available soon .... Griffith's also is helpful, but is some times dense (five or six "versions" of one OS map, many with handwritten changes in parcel numbers)

Report abuse

Mayosligo | Aug 20, 2011, 11:24 AM EDT
My great great grandfather John MacAndrew came to Lawrence Co. Illinois from Killala in the 1830's. Great great grandfather Thomas Byrne came at the same time, bought land adjoining and married GGGfather MacAndrew's daughter Mary. I looked on Killala Bay and the Ox Mountains in 2006. I felt I was seeing through their eyes the home they left so long ago. From the mountains of Ireland to the prairies of Illinois.

Report abuse

Duggins | Aug 20, 2011, 10:53 AM EDT
My ancesters left Ireland in 1750 and so many records have been destroyed it makes it difficult, sure these sites are great if your family left after the mid 1800's

Report abuse

carrickcourt | Aug 20, 2011, 10:18 AM EDT
A good summary of online Irish genealogy resources. I am always amazed doing family history research on people related to me that I find them having some Irish ancestry. Like anything else with genealogy research it is location, location, location. If you just know your ancestors came from Ireland frankly you will likely not "find" them. If you know where your Irish ancestors came from you will likely "find" them. Not everything is online. Parish registers are often not on line. Catholic records can be found at the Irish National Library in Dublin. Protestant parish registers are a bit harder to find.

Report abuse

 




Connect to IrishCentral with your Facebook account

or Sign-Up directly

Already Registered? Sign-In!

Welcome to IrishCentral!
Please provide the following information in order to create your account

Username:
E-Mail Address:
Password:
Confirm Password:
I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy


Already Registered? Sign-In!
Forgot my password

Welcome to IrishCentral!
All we need is the following information and you will be part of the #1 Irish community in the US

E-Mail Address:
First select a unique username:
Username:
Now choose a password:
Password:
Confirm Password:
I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
Thank you!

Just one more step and you will be part of the largest Irish community in America! Tell us a little more about you to start enjoying all the features of IrishCentral.

Additional Information:

First Name:
Last Name:
Date of Birth:
Zip:
Gender: Male  Female 
Country:
Degree of Irishness:
Household Income:
Level of Education:

Subscribe to our newsletters:

The Best of IrishCentral - Daily Newsletter
Special Offers from our sponsors

or
Skip

You can edit your information at any time, just go to "my account" when you're logged in.

Log into IrishCentral with your Facebook account

or sign-in directly

E-Mail:
Password:
 Remember me Forgot my password
Not a member? Register Now!
submit to reddit
print this article Print
email this articleE-mail