Irish ancestors research

ceewash

Can anyone advise which is the best site for tracing irish ancestors? I am a member of ancestry and I have traced many family members back to ireland and got stuck. i don't mind paying if it is a good site. Free would be better.

milla

Here are 2 to start with ........

http://www.census-online.com/links/Ireland/

http://griffiths.askaboutireland.ie/gv4/gv_start.php

goodwitch

Do a google search. There are a few good websites that are Irish based, some free, some paying. Depending on the area your ancestors lived in it's often helpful to look for any local family history societies. They often provide records in cd format for members and send out newsletters that are very helpful.

Blue_Diamond_2

This is your best start the 1911 census free!

I cannot post a link but the 1911 census can be found at www. census.nationalarchives.ie

nearlyrich

I have an irish great grandma myself and I have so far not delved into that part of my family, I know the local Family History Society here in Lancashire has an Irish roots group.

Grumpelstiltskin

Searching for Irish ancestors can be very difficult especially if yours were labourers who came over to England during the potato famine.

If you are very lucky they will give their exact place of birth on a later census return, but I am afraid often you will just find Ireland as a place of birth.

If they had money and owned land it does tend to be easier, there will be records of them.

Oh and by the way a couple of things to remember, before 1922 Ireland ( the whole of the island of Ireland) was part of Great Britain so there are no records of passengers arriving in England, and many records were destroyed during the troubles.

Don't give up but you need to look at English ( or Welsh or Scottish) census returns to work out when they came across.

Pssst

ceewash wrote: »

Can anyone advise which is the best site for tracing irish ancestors? I am a member of ancestry and I have traced many family members back to ireland and got stuck. i don't mind paying if it is a good site. Free would be better.

Are we talking norn'iron or southern?

Many norn'iron families have their roots in Scotland.

See scotlands people website

ceewash

Co Armagh I think

Grumpelstiltskin

If you have found them on census returns on Ancestry you should have some idea when they left Ireland.

If it was Co Armagh then it was N Ireland, so next question you need to know the answer to is what religion were they?

Then I would google Armagh family history and see what comes up, but don't pay for anything unless you have discovered wether you can get it free.

Do you belong to RootsChat.Com? If not I would join, it's free and there are message boards on there with people who can help you.

Grumpelstiltskin

Here's a link to the GRO in Northern Ireland.
http://www.groni.gov.uk/index/family-history.htm

That gives you the dates civil registration started and birth, marriage and death certificates started to be issued.

Before those dates you have to rely on parish registers. That's why you need to know exactly where they came from and what religion they were.

jammin_2

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

before 1922 Ireland ( the whole of the island of Ireland) was part of [STRIKE]Great Britain[/STRIKE] the United Kingdom

Corrected your post for you there.