Ancestor Network, Ireland's most trusted genealogy research, advisory, and publishing firm, released a hugely expanded second-edition guide on Irish families.
"Sources for Irish Family History", which was re-released in October 2021, is the ultimate resource for people trying to conduct their own Irish family history research.
The genealogy guide contains listings of periodical articles, books, and manuscript family histories deposited in libraries.
Published by Flyleaf Press, the publishing arm of Ancestor Network, the guide has doubled since the first edition and lists some 6,500 references to books, journal articles, and other material on 2,500 Irish families.
The references cited are mainly accounts of particular family lines. They vary from fond and emotional accounts of families and their ancestral homes to dispassionate, well-researched, and fully documented family studies and pedigrees.
"Sources for Irish Family History" is now available as an e-book
The greater value of the material in these references is to put a human dimension to the facts that are usually found in records.
Ancestor Network explains the significance of the guide by saying, "No church or civil record will inform us that our ancestors were wonderful singers or dancers; or of the details of their travels or their occupation; nor whether their recorded marriages were the culminations of great romances, or of family arrangements.
"Such information can, however, be occasionally found in the memoirs & letters detailed in the articles and books listed here."
Reviews of the first edition of Irish Family History:
"The sources are not your usual ones, so they provide new avenues …contains good source information which should not be overlooked, as it gives both name and place. Not your usual references, so there is no duplication."
- St. Louis Genealogical Society Quarterly
"Anyone who is engaged in Irish genealogy will want to check this book for their family names."
- NY Genealogical & Biographic Record
“.. first and foremost a work of reference and, as such, it succeeds very well. If your ancestors lived in Ireland, this could be the first place to look for (published information)”
- Yorkshire Family Historian
"Sources for Irish Family History" has doubled since the first edition
"Sources for Irish Family History" was compiled by James G Ryan, a writer, and publisher on Irish genealogy.
He has lectured extensively at genealogy meetings and his research interests include church records and Rentals. He writes articles for Irish Roots Magazine; and blogs for Ancestor Network.
An E-book version of "Sources for Irish Family History" is available here. You can keep up to date with Ancestor Network on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Flyleaf Press also publishes Guides for Tracing Ancestors in Dublin, Kildare, Cork, Sligo, Limerick, Galway, Clare, Westmeath, Kerry, Limerick, Roscommon, Donegal, Tipperary, and Leitrim.
*Originally published in October 2021. Updated in October 2023.
