List of Sites to Search for Irish Ancestry
Catholic PaChurch Records
Church records are normally older in initiation than civil registration records. Catholic records are available on a number of websites, most of which are pay sites. In general the data on these sites have been transcribed from the original register entries. The value of these websites lies in their search engines, and these are of varying quality, from excellent to problematical. In some cases it is possible to link to the original entry from the website and in other cases not. In these latter cases one must search the online and unindexed photographs of the originals available on the National Library of Ireland website if one wishes to view the originals, or visit the church and request access. Catholic records range in start date from the late 1600s to the 1870s. The finish date for records on the websites ranges from 1880 to circa 1920. Between the various websites above approximately 95% of all 19th century and earlier Catholic records are available online in searchable databases, most of the remainder must be searched for manually as described above. A very small number of registers have yet to be copied. Only around 40% of Protestant records survive from before 1878. Anglican (Episcopalian) records are mostly housed in the Representative Church Body Library, Dublin, while the National Archives has a microfilm collection of many of these. In many cases the surviving Anglican and Presbyterian records are available on the same websites as the Catholic records, but this is not true in all cases.
Roots Ireland database
This contains over 80% of Irish Catholic baptism and marriage records pre-1900 and around one third of Protestant records.
Irish Genealogy ie
Irish Genealogy 101
A Guide to Researching Irish Ancestry
Catholic Parish Registers with Dioceses
Ancestry
Ireland Collections 1824-1910
Distribution of Surnames in Ireland, 1890
This statistical report is based on the births registered in Ireland during the year 1890.
Commercial directories
Pigot’s Directory of 1824
Slator’s Directory of 1846
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
Irish Medical Directory of 1852 (the earliest comprehensive one)
University of Edinburgh, Scotland, graduation records
Find My Past
General database search for Britain and Ireland
Find My Past
Irish newspaper database
Emerald Ancestors
Irish Cemeteries and Burial Records Online
The Ireland Old News
Database of newspaper obituaries
The Irish News Paper Archive
The site currently features over 1.5 million pages of newspaper content, with another 2 million in the works from papers such as The Freeman's Journal (1763 to 1924), Irish Independent (1905 to 2003) and The Anglo-Celt (1908 to 2001).
Griffith’s Valuation of 1851
Valuation Office House and Tenure books
Late 1840s
Tithe Applotment book
A collection of records by civil parish which record all farmers holding more than two acres of land. These mostly date from the period 1825 to 1835, and record acreage and land quality of farms, names of farmers, and amounts of tithe payable to the Protestant State Church. They are another valuable census substitute.
Irish Will Indices
Late 1500s to 1857
Marriage Licence Bond Indices
Ireland to 1857
Convert Rolls
to Protestantism from Catholicism
Irish Wills and Administrations
1858 onwards
The Registry of Deeds Index Project
This site contains around 15% of the deeds contained in the Registry.
Registry of Deeds Wills
Surviving wills in Ireland largely date from 1858 onwards. Before this wills were kept by the Protestant State Church, and most of these were destroyed in the PRO fire in 1922, although indices survive going back to the 16th century in most cases. Wills and grants of probate and administration are kept locally and copies kept in the National Archives in Dublin.
Valuation Office House and Tenure book
The Valuation Office cancelled books are a constantly updated version of the original Griffith’s Valuation. That is, they are a record of the names of heads of households and changes to land or property updated every three years or so. They usually cover the period from the published Griffith’s down to the 1970s.
Registry of Deeds in Dublin
Griffiths Valuation
A land and property tax which lists the heads of all households in rural areas and the rates on their home and lands. It dates from 1848 to the early 1860s and was published at different times for different counties. In the absence of 19th century census records it is the nearest equivalent. The Valuation comes with maps showing homestead location and area of farms. Earlier material survives for some counties, usually dating four to five years before the published Griffiths, and this can contain additional data, such as the measurements of homesteads and details of rents and leases. This material is the house and tenure books of the Valuation Office, now held in the
National Archives.
Calendar of Wills and administrations 1858 to 1922
Commentary
The Church of Ireland records from the parishes of St. Peters, Navan, and Ardbraccan, were both destroyed in a fire in 1922 and do not survive for this period.
The family may have been Congregationalists
see https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/jurchs/07-09.pdf
Early records before 1860 for the vast majority of Irish people are scarce – a marriage record if the most likely record you could hope to find.
Ten Free Irish Websites
National Archives Ireland
Church records are normally older in initiation than civil registration records. Catholic records are available on a number of websites, most of which are pay sites. In general the data on these sites have been transcribed from the original register entries. The value of these websites lies in their search engines, and these are of varying quality, from excellent to problematical. In some cases it is possible to link to the original entry from the website and in other cases not. In these latter cases one must search the online and unindexed photographs of the originals available on the National Library of Ireland website if one wishes to view the originals, or visit the church and request access. Catholic records range in start date from the late 1600s to the 1870s. The finish date for records on the websites ranges from 1880 to circa 1920. Between the various websites above approximately 95% of all 19th century and earlier Catholic records are available online in searchable databases, most of the remainder must be searched for manually as described above. A very small number of registers have yet to be copied. Only around 40% of Protestant records survive from before 1878. Anglican (Episcopalian) records are mostly housed in the Representative Church Body Library, Dublin, while the National Archives has a microfilm collection of many of these. In many cases the surviving Anglican and Presbyterian records are available on the same websites as the Catholic records, but this is not true in all cases.
Roots Ireland database
This contains over 80% of Irish Catholic baptism and marriage records pre-1900 and around one third of Protestant records.
Irish Genealogy ie
Irish Genealogy 101
A Guide to Researching Irish Ancestry
Catholic Parish Registers with Dioceses
Ancestry
Ireland Collections 1824-1910
Distribution of Surnames in Ireland, 1890
This statistical report is based on the births registered in Ireland during the year 1890.
Commercial directories
Pigot’s Directory of 1824
Slator’s Directory of 1846
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
Irish Medical Directory of 1852 (the earliest comprehensive one)
University of Edinburgh, Scotland, graduation records
Find My Past
General database search for Britain and Ireland
Find My Past
Irish newspaper database
Emerald Ancestors
Irish Cemeteries and Burial Records Online
The Ireland Old News
Database of newspaper obituaries
The Irish News Paper Archive
The site currently features over 1.5 million pages of newspaper content, with another 2 million in the works from papers such as The Freeman's Journal (1763 to 1924), Irish Independent (1905 to 2003) and The Anglo-Celt (1908 to 2001).
Griffith’s Valuation of 1851
Valuation Office House and Tenure books
Late 1840s
Tithe Applotment book
A collection of records by civil parish which record all farmers holding more than two acres of land. These mostly date from the period 1825 to 1835, and record acreage and land quality of farms, names of farmers, and amounts of tithe payable to the Protestant State Church. They are another valuable census substitute.
Irish Will Indices
Late 1500s to 1857
Marriage Licence Bond Indices
Ireland to 1857
Convert Rolls
to Protestantism from Catholicism
Irish Wills and Administrations
1858 onwards
The Registry of Deeds Index Project
This site contains around 15% of the deeds contained in the Registry.
Registry of Deeds Wills
Surviving wills in Ireland largely date from 1858 onwards. Before this wills were kept by the Protestant State Church, and most of these were destroyed in the PRO fire in 1922, although indices survive going back to the 16th century in most cases. Wills and grants of probate and administration are kept locally and copies kept in the National Archives in Dublin.
Valuation Office House and Tenure book
The Valuation Office cancelled books are a constantly updated version of the original Griffith’s Valuation. That is, they are a record of the names of heads of households and changes to land or property updated every three years or so. They usually cover the period from the published Griffith’s down to the 1970s.
Registry of Deeds in Dublin
Griffiths Valuation
A land and property tax which lists the heads of all households in rural areas and the rates on their home and lands. It dates from 1848 to the early 1860s and was published at different times for different counties. In the absence of 19th century census records it is the nearest equivalent. The Valuation comes with maps showing homestead location and area of farms. Earlier material survives for some counties, usually dating four to five years before the published Griffiths, and this can contain additional data, such as the measurements of homesteads and details of rents and leases. This material is the house and tenure books of the Valuation Office, now held in the
National Archives.
Calendar of Wills and administrations 1858 to 1922
Commentary
The Church of Ireland records from the parishes of St. Peters, Navan, and Ardbraccan, were both destroyed in a fire in 1922 and do not survive for this period.
The family may have been Congregationalists
see https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/jurchs/07-09.pdf
Early records before 1860 for the vast majority of Irish people are scarce – a marriage record if the most likely record you could hope to find.
Ten Free Irish Websites
National Archives Ireland
https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/britishislesancestors/getstarted
Other Links
https://ourpublicrecords.org/the-ultimate-guide-to-high-school-records/
Other Links
https://ourpublicrecords.org/the-ultimate-guide-to-high-school-records/
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© 2013 - Suzanne Nagel.
© 2013 - Suzanne Nagel.
