Searching for ancestors in Ireland
A simple way to get started is to post a query to one of the many lists that are developing on the Internet. I've posted a number of these in the hope that over the next few years somebody on the Internet will respond. Check out The Fitzpatrick Forum at Genforum
http://genforum.genealogy.com/fitzpatrick/
It costs nothing. It’s a bit like throwing a letter-in-a-bottle into the sea and waiting for a reply which might take up to two years.
To start serious research, for each individual you are researching, you will need as much of the following information that you can muster.
1 Father's name ________________________________________
2 Mother's name ________________________________________
3 Mother's maiden name __________________________________
4 Subject's firstname ________________________________________
5 Secondname ________________________________________
6 Surname ________________________________________
7 Date of birth ________________________________________
8 Place of birth ________________________________________
9 Gender ________________________________________
10 Date of baptism ________________________________________
11 Church of baptism ________________________________________
12 Religion ________________________________________
13 Date of marriage ________________________________________
14 Spouse's name ________________________________________
15 Place of marriage ________________________________________
16 Date of death ________________________________________
17 Place of burial ________________________________________
If you don't already have this information then suitable sources that you might search include family bibles, last wills and testaments, emigrant passenger lists, military service records, war pension records, (e.g, Civil War in the USA), public service records, population census, school, college and university records, employment records, letters from home, court records and most important of all, ask your oldest surviving relatives. Record everything that they can tell you like names, addresses, occupations, dates, times and places etc. etc. of everyone including brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins – write down everything.
If you have this information it should open up all kinds of avenues for further research. This you can complete yourself (giving added enjoyment) or have professional researchers complete for you for a fee.
Central to a successful search is any reliable record relating to any family event (birth, baptism, marriage, property sale or purchase, educational qualification, court case, death, will etc. etc.) in Ireland.
Here in Ireland that the discovery of a grave will in turn provide details of up to five other people. For each person the
register will show Date of Interment, Name, Age, Residence, Date of Death, Gender, Religion, Occupation, Marital Status, Cause of Death, and Name and Address of Informant. A super source of information.
Another source is the official register of births, deaths and marriages (first in your home country) and then in the country where your family originated and then probably back to Ireland. Here in Ireland these records for the entire population begin January 1st 1864 and Church of Ireland (Protestant) weddings begin April 1st 1845. While births, deaths and marriages begin in 1864 this means that somebody born c1784 might be recorded in the Register of Deaths (if they had lived this long they would be 80) thereby pointing the way to other sources. These registers are kept at the Office of the Registrar-General, Joyce House, 8 Lombard Street East, Dublin 2, Tel 353 1 6711000. Check the equivalent in your home country first.
The Census of Ireland returns for 1901 and 1911 are available on microfilm at the National Archives of Ireland, Bishop Street, Dublin 8. These are due to become available on line from Autumn 2007.
As your research progresses make certain that you have proper certificates to back up your work and keep references to where you find information.
To this point it is possible for individuals here in Ireland to conduct their own research at little cost (other than their time) and with excellent potential for success. However, form this point on the research becomes more specialised and, generally, is best left to professionals.
This page was last updated 16 September 2007