Any good Ireland genealogy research tips?

Question

I have not done much when it comes to researching ancestors from Ireland. I live in the United States so physical research is not possible. Anyone know of good on-line resources as a starting point? I found this one that seems to be fairly decent. Irish Genealogy.ie I happened to be working on a branch of my tree, got to a maternal 6th great-grandfather who seems to be from Ireland and have hit a brick-wall. Any suggestions are welcome. Not looking for others to do the research for me. Just point me in the direction I need to go. Thanks!

Comments

Do as much research you can in the US, you may find something that leads you to an actual location in Ireland which will be very helpful.  You will find that there may be  thousands of people by the name of Nicholas Connelly.  In the north the earliest census are parts of the 1831 Census, birth, marriage, death registrations were not required until the mid 1840's.  You may find church records earlier however you will need to know the location.  

The Catholic Parish Registers for Ireland are here and are free but you must know the parish and there is no alphabetical searching, you must go through the parish records by date, if available.

Be careful as there are many sources that are free, that you will be charged for by some sites.  

If you can find the location in the informaiton in the U.S. please get back to us, as that will open up many doors.  

Good luck in your search, I have been researching my family in Ireland for the past 25 years and have made many trips over searching for them.

North records are usually separate and apart from the South/Republic of Ireland, the North is part of the UK and the South is it's own Republic.

Answer 1

You found one of the better ones.

To help you understand Irish sources, the National Archives of Ireland has put together a very good course. It walks you through all the major sources and where to find them.

After you go through that, you can find more sources at sources by Province by County

Then when you get to Pre-1500 you can use Historical Sources of Ireland

Good luck in your hunt.

Answer 2

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

https://www.irishnewsarchive.com/

https://irishdeedsindex.net/index.php

https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/?m=1 good for news of updates to datasets and new datasets

http://www.rootsireland.ie/

https://registers.nli.ie/

https://www.findmypast.ie/ I've found the parish registers on here free to search and view. Also some datasets not available elsewhere

https://www.johngrenham.com/

Answer 3

although there are some sites around there are not many and there are no early census records as they were destroyed.

familysearch is helpful but not all records appear at any time and you can find something one day and not the next.

i found with 1 of my ancestors that the local parish church were very helpful and found some records for me, but you do need toknow the area.

another thing i found was dont be afraid to ask for help with them, i have had people on various forums (including this one) find records that i couldnt/hadn't.

Answer 4

As others have mentioned, there are a number of good free resources online. The Irish newspapers and the deeds index are great for connecting generations.

Civil records (from about 1840, still sketchy until the 1880s) & Parish records https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/  and the National Archives has Census data (particularly helpful 1901 & 1911 census data), Marriage licenses, Will & Probate indexes and calendars etc --  https://genealogy.nationalarchives.ie/  Other sources that are helpful - FindAGrave & Burke & other heraldic tomes maybe be helpful.

Answer 5

What was most helpful to me when I was beginning Irish research was this webinar on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/jDz8MYXFEfY

Answer 6

For Ireland help, this is a great completely free website, they do not have records but they have a very experienced group of Irish historians who will answer any questions you have, and will look up records for you, or tell you where to find them, they are busier now than they been in the past

https://irelandxo.com/

Answer 7

All the previous answers are excellent! I'd just like to add that the NLI Registers have been my saving grace in Irish research, and my #1 go-to.

 Www.registers.nli.ie

They contain scans of all Catholic church books for births, marriages, and death from approximately 1750 up to 1881. If the family you are researching were Catholic, this is a very, very useful resource. Some of the NLI Registers have been transcribed onto irishgenealogy.ie and are therefore searchable. However, in my own experience of a decade of Irish genealogy, every single birth, death, and marriage I have ever found was in the NLI registers, not Irishgenealogy.ie.

Also, extremely useful for more "modern" research is http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

This is a fully searchable index of the 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses. Therefore, anyone born roughly between 1820 and 1911 could be found through the search.

Answer 8

I have bookmarked all the sites recommended in this post for further research. My problem is identifying exactly what county/parish/town/etc... my Irish ancestors are from. I have only been able to find ONE source that identifies Killybegs in County Donegal for one branch on my tree (O'Donnell's) . I have 11 other branches with no clue where they are from in Ireland. I am new to this, other that cemetery grave markers or obituaries how do you find where exactly they came from. Going through Immigration records leads me to nowhere and family documents are non existant. Thanks