Here are some ideas for researching Irish ancestors. You may already be aware of some of them, and there might be other useful sites. Some information can be found at more than one of these, but be aware that you have to pay at some of them. Even the paying ones have some free material, though, and most have links to other resources too. Commercial companies have non-clicky links. The starting point is PRONI - the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland These are the main links: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/family-and-local-history-records RootsIreland is a kind of umbrella site for the whole island although some of their NI records comes from the Ulster Historical Foundation (see below): Code: https://www.rootsireland.ie/ Births, Marriages & Deaths The official Northern Irish site is https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk/ There are different levels of payment which entitle you to different amounts of information. Coverage is more or less complete for NI post-1922, so there may not be any need to order paper certificates. The Irish Republic's site is operated by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and a lot of the BMD registrations can be found there for free, including NI before 1922. https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/ If you need a paper certificate (eg for a year that's not online) you can get it via: https://www2.hse.ie/services/births-deaths-and-marriages/get-certificates/ordering-certificates.html Note: there is a cheaper (€4) option for a non-certified photocopy from a register, which is usually enough for FH purposes. Some NI indexes can also be accessed at Emerald Ancestors but you can't see much without paying. Code: https://www.emeraldancestors.com/ You may have seen on the Irish Genealogy site a link to church registers, but these are mostly Roman Catholic and nearly all in the Republic: https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/ However, if you know in which parish your ancestor was living, Catholic Parish Registers at the National Library of Ireland: https://registers.nli.ie/ There is a list of Church of Ireland registers to be found on this pdf: https://www.ireland.anglican.org/cm...registers/ParishRegisters/PARISHREGISTERS.pdf But a small number of those online may be found here: https://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/rcb-library/anglican-record-project PRONI has a comprehensive list of all NI registers on the following (large) pdf: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/sites/d...ions/Guide-to-Church-Records-October-2019.pdf Wills For NI see https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/information-and-services/search-archives-online/will-calendars Note: some are abstracts only Memorials etc The most comprehensive site for NI is the Ulster Historical Foundation at Code: https://www.ancestryireland.com/ but it can be expensive to do more than a basic search. However, it is worth checking there for other transcriptions etc, plus they have a bookshop, which might prove useful. If your family were in Belfast you should also check the city council's burials site at https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/births-deaths-and-ceremonies/burial-records - copies of records are quite reasonable and in some cases give you as much as you'd get on a death certificate Census (only 1901 & 1911 apart from a few fragments) Free via Irish National Archives and covers all of Ireland: https://genealogy.nationalarchives.ie/ Because of the loss of earlier censuses, one of the main resources for the 19th century is Griffith's Valuation: http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml or https://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths.htm PRONI has versions of these updated well into the 20th century: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/information-and-services/search-archives-online/valuation-revision-books Tithe Applotment Books The Tithe Applotment Books are a vital source for genealogical research for the pre-Famine period and were compiled between 1823 and 1837 in order to determine the amount which occupiers of agricultural holdings over one acre should pay in tithes to the Church of Ireland. There are links to these on a number of websites. Places, Maps etc One of the key land units is the townland - a subdivision of a parish, and in country areas usually the closest you'll get to an actual address. You can find out about these at https://www.townlands.ie/ (which also has maps) and https://thecore.com/seanruad/ Other historical maps are at: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/search-proni-historical-maps-viewer Pensions Another source, depending on when your people were born, is old age pension applications. These can sometimes provide info that's otherwise been lost from censuses, registers etc. There is an introduction to the pension records together with a search facility at: http://censussearchforms.nationalarchives.ie/search/cs/home.jsp They are also available at FamilySearch - https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2346275 Being listed in the 1841 or 1851 census was deemed an acceptable qualification for the pension, and applications were checked against the original returns. This means that although the census records themselves have been destroyed, in some cases the information from them has survived. Other Resources Images of an 1846 directory: https://www.failteromhat.com/slateru.htm Ulster Ancestry - mainly a commercial research firm, but some free info available too: Code: http://www.ulsterancestry.com/index.htm#gsc.tab=0 Also look out for local history societies in your places of interest, as they sometimes have local records and transcripts that haven't made it on to any of the big sites. Written by ArthurK
Thanks Arthur- I just shake my head when trying to find anything on my Presbyterian Irish ancestors. Without a known set of free resources to get started I have no details to search the databases!
I originally wrote it for someone with mainly Church of Ireland ancestors from the north (which is what mine are too), but as part of mentioning the all-Ireland records there was inevitably a nod to the online RC parish registers. I haven't needed to delve into Presbyterian records yet, but I know they're a significant presence in some parts of Ireland, so if you come across any useful resources I'm very happy for them to be added to the list.
