Irish genealogy research is the process of researching your family history and in particular, those ancestors that were born in, or lived on the island of Ireland.
Some researcher are interested only in names and key dates such as birth, baptism, marriage and death, while others are interested in building a picture of the lives of your ancestors. In this case, you may wish to supplement your research with information about where they worshipped, where they worked, the type of work they did, the extent of their education, their hobbies and interests, their living conditions, in other words, the social history associated with your ancestor.
Surviving records are held in a variety of repositories; some are freely available online while others incur a charge although many have still not been digitised and must be viewed in person in an archive.
This introduction provides information about the key record sets that will allow you to get started with your Irish ancestry research.
Research your ancestors on MyHeritage
How to get started with Irish genealogy research
If your Irish ancestor emigrated, do try to find out as much as possible about them in the country that they emigrated to. Talk to family members and gather information from photos, newspaper clippings, obituaries and family bibles, etc. Does their headstone name the place they were born or did they name their house or farmstead after the village or townland they left? Did they use the Irish naming pattern for their children? Was there chain migration from the place of origin and therefore a number of people from the same area in Ireland who settled in the same area in the new country? Have you checked the FAN Club i.e. Family, Friends, Associates and Neighbours? Who were the witnesses at marriages, the godparents of children, the executors of wills, who belonged to the same church and who did they buy and sell goods and land to? All of these can provide useful clues that will help to tie down a place of origin in Ireland. If your ancestor emigrated prior to the introduction of civil registration of births, marriage, and deaths, you need to know where they came from so that you can determine which church records, land valuation records, estate records, etc may survive for that area and in which you could find information on your ancestors. Another tip is to check your ancestor’s surname to find variant spellings and variant names. Once you know what these are, use the wildcard (usually an asterisk) to ensure that you capture as many variant spellings as possible.
Destruction of Irish records
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We often hear that Irish genealogical research is particularly difficult because all of the records were destroyed in Dublin in 1922.[1] These problems are compounded because of the partition of Ireland in 1921 – how does the researcher know which records are available and where are they to be found? It is true that there was a devastating loss of priceless genealogical information when the Four Courts building in Dublin which housed the Public Records Office (PRO) was blown up on 30 June 1922 during the Irish Civil War. We have detailed knowledge of what was destroyed because in 1919, Herbert Wood, the Deputy Keeper of the PRO published a detailed inventory of its holdings.
Some of the key records that were lost include:
- Census records between 1821-1851. There are some surviving fragments for different geographical areas. The census returns from 1861-1891 were destroyed at a later date on the order of the government of the day.
- The Church of Ireland (CoI) was disestablished in 1869 and as their records were deemed to be official records of the state, ministers were asked to deposit their registers in the PRO. About half of the registers, some of which dated back to the 17th century had been deposited and were destroyed.
- Original wills and testamentary records dating back to 1500 were lost.
- Court records, crown grants of land and title deeds as far back as 1174 along with 17th century land transfer records.
- Transportation records and many of the military records with details of the local yeomanry from the 18th century.
The Beyond 2022 project run by Dublin’s Trinity College in collaboration with other archives around the world has been working on a virtual recreation of the PRO with digital copies of documents. The results of this valuable ongoing project is now freely available to view at The Virtual Treasury of Ireland website.
Key surviving record sets
Of course, many records were never deposited in the PRO and some of the key record sets that are available include:
Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths.
Civil registration of all births, Roman Catholic marriages and all deaths commenced in 1864 in Ireland. The registration of non-Roman Catholic marriages commenced in 1845. Births more than 100 years old, marriages more than 75 years old and deaths more than 50 years old are available at Irish Genealogy for free and at the General Register Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI) on a pay per view basis. Irish Genealogy has the records for all of Ireland up to 1921 and thereafter only for the Republic of Ireland. GRONI has all of the records for the six counties of Northern Ireland from commencement of record keeping.
Church records
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About half of the CoI registers were never deposited with the PRO or transcripts were taken before depositing them. Therefore, about half of those records are extant, some of which date back to the 17th century. Other denominations were never deposited in the PRO. Most Roman Catholic records date from the 19th century although there are some 18th century records for example for counties Carlow, Cavan, Cork, Dublin and a few records from the latter half of the 17th century for the cities of Waterford, Galway and Wexford. Many of the early Presbyterian records are to be found within the CoI records, although there are some Presbyterian records from the latter part of the 17th century in Antrim and Lisburn in County Antrim and Drumbo, Killyleagh and Portaferry in County Down. Other denominations include Methodist (early records are included within the CoI), Quakers, Baptist, and Moravians. Jewish records are also available. Church records are held in a variety of locations that includes archives such as the National Library of Ireland, Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), RCBL for CoI records and the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland (PHSI). Some have been transcribed and are available online at repositories while others are still held in local custody.
Land Valuation Records
Land Valuations that include the Valuation Office Books and Tithe Applotment records from the first half of the 19th century are to be found at the National Archives of Ireland and on PRONI’S e-catalogue. Griffiths Primary Valuation completed between 1847-1864 in particular is a useful census substitute given the destruction of official census records.
Census of Ireland
The first complete surviving census for Ireland is 1901[2] and we also have the 1911 records which are freely available at the National Archives of Ireland along with the surviving fragments of earlier census. The records mentioned here are provided as a brief introduction to Irish research. To take your research further there are many other records such as wills, estate records, muster lists, military records, poll tax, hearth money rolls, voter records, census substitutes such as the religious census of the 18th century and street directories.
Explore more about Irish Genealogy
- Irish records collection at MyHeritage
- How to Trace Your Irish Genealogy on the MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- Making the Most of Your Irish Surname on the MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- The Voice of Eimear Quinn’s Powerful Irish History on the MyHeritage blog
- My ancestors were Irish – or were they? at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Using Irish newspapers and other printed material at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- The Three Cs of Irish Research: Civil Registration, Church Records, and Census at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Breaking Down Your Irish Brick Wall: Irish Estate Records at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Researching Your Irish Ancestors: Beyond the Basics at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Breaking Down Your Irish and Scottish Brick Wall in the New Poor Law Records of Scotland at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
References
- ↑ Documents saved from the Public Record Office fire of 1922 to be conserved. Government of Ireland
- ↑ 1901 and 1911 Census of Ireland Timeline Research Ireland