"Where can I start to trace my family tree?"

Having decided to research your family tree start first with what you know and then speak to older members of your family to find out what they know.

Get as much detail as possible; names, dates, where and when an event took place or the approximate age of a person when an event happened. Any piece of information may be of use, sometimes it can be of help now and sometimes it may not prove useful until a little later when you have more information for the bigger picture of your family.

Some other useful information would be details of Religion, Trade or Occupation, knowing also an address or location where they lived can help with further research in that area.  Look through photographs, family papers, diaries, family bible, letters, anniversary books etc. At this stage you are well on the way to being a nosy family detective so have fun!

Doing your family tree can be like doing a jigsaw without a picture and not knowing how big it is supposed to be AND knowing that there are pieces missing! All you can do is find the corner pieces first and then the edges so you can gradually build your whole jigsaw.

The next step will be to verify the information that you have with public records, Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates. Check parish records, look for Wills, Newspaper records etc.

Some Irish records were lost or destroyed in the burning of the Irish Public Record Office in 1922 but details of civil births marriages and deaths, church records, land & property records are still available among others.

"What information do I need in order to find my ancestors?"

 

For each person you are researching try to fill in the following information:

• Full name at birth
• Date of birth and where
• Religious Denomination
• Date of Baptism and where
• Address where born
• Any area the family lived
• Occupations
• Full names of parents including mother’s birth name.
• Full names of brothers & sisters
• Full name of Spouse
• Date and Place of Marriage
• Names of Children
• Date of Death
• Where Buried
• Check if a Will was issued
• Check newspapers for births, marriages, death and obituaries.

When researching your ancestor it can also help if you have details of their aunts and uncles as they may have recorded information which the parents did not.

If your ancestors were immigrants do what you can in your country before researching the country they left from.

When researching your ancestors who came from Ireland it helps if you know at what period they were living in Ireland.

If they were living in Ireland early 1900’s then the 1901 or 1911 census is the best place to start. If they were living about 1840’s to 1860’s then you could search the Primary Valuation, known as Griffith’s Valuation and if they were living earlier still about 1820’s or 1830’s the Tithe Applotment Books may help you to find your ancestor. With the information before the 1860’s it was more about the property than the person so detail can be sparse. People would only be listed if they had some wealth and could afford to pay a tax.

Ireland’s first full census was in 1821 and subsequent censuses were held every 10 years up until 1911. Most of the census material for the years 1821 to 1891 was destroyed either by government directives to protect confidentially or for pulping during the First World War due to a shortage of paper, or in a fire in the Public Record Office in 1922. A waste of information which many researchers would love to know now but thank goodness there are still plenty of archive material to make up for the loss.

Though no manuscript returns survive for this period there are some returns for 1821, 1831, 1841, and 1851 covering various countries. There are also census search forms for each county giving the results of searches made in the returns of 1841 and 1851 for pension purposes and some other copies made from the returns of 1821. The manuscript returns for each household survive for all 32 counties of Ireland with the 1901 and 1911 census. No census was taken for 1921 due to the troubles in Ireland at the time so the next census to be released after this will be for 1926. The date for release is unknown at present although it is hoped that it will be before 2026!

Before 1901 the census returns are arranged by Townland or in urban areas by street, and give information such as name, relationship to head of household, religion, literacy, occupation, age, marital status, county of birth and ability to speak English and Irish.

In 1845 Church of Ireland marriages started to be registered and by 1864 births, marriages and deaths were also registered for the country. However not all events were registered by the family concerned so if you have an ancestor who was born in the early years of the register and you cannot find his details you can blame your Great Grandparents or their parents.

Before 1864 church registers are the only records available of most births, marriages and deaths. To search these records you need to firstly know the family religion and then the parish area, approx year, type of event and the family names.

Parish records are either be held locally, on microfilm with the National Library or at the RCB library which it is why you need to know the family religion.  Most Roman Catholic parish records can be found at the National Library on microfilm up to about 1888 and a list of parishes held can be downloaded from the Library. Some of the priests kept their records in Latin and to help you with this the Library provides a simple list of translation.

Some RC parish events did not take place in a church and so details of the events may be lost.

Church of Ireland parish registers for the period up to 1870 were public records as they were they were the established church. Some of the parish registers were destroyed in 1922 the remaining is held by the local clergy, the National Archives and others are in the Representative Church Body Library. A list of all surviving registers is can be downloaded from the RCB website.

The National Archives hold the original wills and administration papers lodged in the Principal Registry since 1904 and in most District Registries since 1900. The majority of wills were destroyed in 1922 but there are will index books for each year which hold an abstract of information and they are always worth checking if you know the approximate year that your ancestor died.

In order to carry out useful research at the National Archive of people immigrating to America it is essential to know approximately when and where a person left, and on which ship as these records are on microfilm and sorted by the year they left Ireland. There is not a full listing for everyone who left Ireland.

Due to the millions of people leaving Ireland and particularly during the famine years it is generally best if the port of entry is researched, more than 36 million Americans claim Irish ancestry. Small ships could have left from a number of ports around Ireland while larger ships would have left from the larger ports. Other ships from Liverpool, England would have called at the main ports in Ireland picking up passengers there before sailing on to America or Canada.

Most sailings and in particular for the smaller ships would have happened from the spring on due to the weather and could take 6 weeks or longer.

The ports of New Ross and Waterford mostly carried passengers from Wexford, Kilkenny, Carlow and Waterford. The ports of arrival were New York, ports north of this and Canada.

The port of Queenstown (now Cobh) mostly carried passengers from Cork, Tipperary and Waterford going to all ports in America and Canada.

The ports of Derry and Belfast mostly carried passengers from Ulster often going to Liverpool, England before sailing to New York and all ports north of this.

It was cheaper and a shorter sailing distance to sail to Canada at the time and so many Irish sailed to Canada before moving south into America via the Great Lakes.

The main ports of entry in America were Baltimore in Maryland, Boston in Massachusetts, New Orleans in Louisiana, New York and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.

Remember to be creative in finding other research areas, there is no need to rush in building your family tree as this is a lifelong hobby but a wonderful gift to be passed on to your future generations.

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Gillian Weir Scully

Diploma in Family History - Awarded Distinction

Member of Association of Professional Genealogists

Researcher listed with
National Archives Ireland &
National Library Ireland