How to Find Family That Were Born in Ireland
Locating ancestors born in Ireland can be a rewarding adventure. The process can be easy or complicated, depending on when, where and how they left Ireland. If they left their homeland via ship, you may be in luck. However, if they were stowaways on a ship, your job will be harder.
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Instructions
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Start digging. Your search begins where what you think you know ends. Start with their name, date and place of birth, if possible. If you are not sure, then start researching: birth, marriage and death records; census records; wills and land deeds are often easily accessible. Many governments put these records online. Some sites are free and some call for a paid subscription.
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Irish History Locate reputable resources. For example, The Irish Family History Foundation (IFHF) has computerized millions of Irish ancestral records, mostly church records of baptisms, marriages and burials. These records are available online for free. Check out irish-roots.ie or "The Irish Times" newspaper where ancestor information is available for roughly $25 to $50 at irishtimes.com.
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Subscribe to trustworthy genealogy sites such as ancestry.com. Research packages can be purchased by the day for as low as $8 to thousands of dollars for specific searches. The Census of Ireland has census records for the years 1901 and 1911. These records are available for searching at the National Archives of Ireland. If your ancestors lived in Ireland, they could appear in the Census records.
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Search the U.S. National Archives online databases on immigrants who fled Ireland during the Irish famine of 1846 to 1851. The Famine Irish Passenger Record Data File has more than 600,000 records of passengers arriving in America.
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Investigate the information at Castle Garden, America's first authorized immigration center, at castlegarden.org It has an extensive, accessible database of millions of immigrants from 1830 through 1892. Additionally, the passenger arrival records at EllisIslandRecords.com can provide a great deal of information. And it's all free.
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Gain access to exclusive British and Irish record and photograph collections that date back as far as the 13th century. Origins Network has one of the most complete collections of data on the Internet at originsnetwork.com.
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Decide when you have gone as far as you can on your own. Then, before spending your hard-earned cash on a genealogist, verify he has the credentials to complete the search and is charging you a fair rate. A genealogist can tie the loose ends together if you run out of fertile resources.
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Tips & Warnings
Take free webinars from Ancestry.com: learn.ancestry.com/LearnMore/Webinars.aspx.
A great deal of Irish parish records of births, baptisms and marriages have been transcribed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They can be searched for free on its Web site at FamilySearch.org.
If you cannot find your ancestor's birth township on the map, use the IreAtlas Townland Database Search for a particular Irish place name or county to produce a list all of the civil parishes, town-lands and poor law unions in a particular area: seanruad.com.
Build a family tree and keep good records of your research results.
References
Resources
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