Another collection of handy and very useful genealogy resources, this time for anyone with Irish heritage. It can be hard to access original vital records from overseas.
My own family on my father's side immigrated to Canada a few generations ago from Ireland. At least, as far as I can tell at this point. That part of my family tree is a very short branch at the moment. So, this week, I thought I would highlight a few excellent resources for anyone with Irish ancestry.
Irish Genealogy - A hub that connects several other Irish genealogy organizations. You can do surname searches, but the final information lies with the various county genealogy. Some searches of vital records can be done for a fee.
Cyndi's List of Ireland Resources - As usual, our favourite collection of genealogy links has an excellent section on Irish ancestry resources. This site will keep you busy for a while.
National Archives of Ireland - The genealogy section of the National Archives of Ireland. Viewing any of the original documents must be done in person, as they are not all available for online searching. But the site does give a great overview of the kinds of records that exist and how to go about finding your way around them. Handy contact info for the individual genealogy centers in each county.
A busy message board for people doing Irish genealogical research. You just might run into a distant cousin in here. Personal contacts can yield the most unexpected results. Get talking!
Irish Ancestors - A mix of free and paid research resources, with particular emphasis on maps and the geography of Ireland. Many of the documents referred to are housed on the National Archives of Ireland (mentioned above).
Irish Genealogy Center - A professional genealogy research service in Ireland that you can hire for between 6 and 13 hours of search time. It's not cheap, but can be a valuable alternative to trying to access documents from overseas.
Irish Immigrants to North America CD - I thought this was an interesting reference CD, especially since many of us hit a wall when an ancestor immigrates. This CD has Irish passenger lists, with more than 60,000 individuals who came to North America between 1735 and 1871. Don't let your search stop at the harbour.
