Issie 11.14
There are around 4.2 million Irish living in the Republic of Ireland today but more than 30 million Americans claim Irish ancestry. I am among them and chances are, you are too. If you are looking to trace your roots back to the Emerald Isle, you will want to visit http://genealogy.about.com/od/ireland/tp/irish_databases.htm?nl=1.
This site is titled Top Web Sites for Researching Irish Ancestors. Number one on the list is FamilySearch because they have indexed the Irish civil registration indexes from 1845-1958 plus parish records, births or christenings, marriages and deaths. These can all be searched for free on the web site at FamilySearch.org. Click Search at the top and then choose Records. At the bottom of the page click Browse All Published Collections or click United Kingdom and Ireland. Clicking United Kingdom and Ireland will take you to the listing where you can select just Ireland.
I can see why this is number one on the list, there are seven large collections of records, all indexed, and all newly online since 2012. There may be hope of linking my Sullivan family to Ireland after all.
Number two on the list is FindMyPast.com, which is a subscription based site but one of those that will soon be available free to LDS Church members and free to use at FamilySearch centers.
The list of vast quantities of Irish family history records continues with the Irish Family History Foundation, Irish Origins, the National Archives of Ireland, Emerald Ancestors, Ancestry.com’s Irish Collection, AncestryIreland, an Ulster Historical Foundation and Irish Newspaper Archives.
There is another resource for learning about family histories in Ireland called Irish Genealogy 101 – A Guide to Researching Irish Ancestry. This can be found at: http://genealogy.about.com/cs/ireland/a/irish_genealogy.htm on the Internet.
When I am exploring a new area of the world to research, I like to begin with the FamilySearch Wiki. The page on Ireland can be found at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Ireland Here you can learn about the history, what records are available for which years, find maps, lists of counties and more useful websites.
For more information contact Shanna Jones shannasjones@msn.com 435.628.4900.