How to Do Irish Genealogy Research Without Crossing the Atlantic

With millions of Americans having Irish ancestry, it’s not surprising that Irish genealogy is a popular topic. As far as European countries go, Ireland has kept a good record of its genealogical history. While some records are only accessible in Ireland, the vast majority of them have been digitized and can be accessed or purchased (as some sites require a fee to get the records) from home. These are the best Irish-based websites with Irish genealogy records and what you can find on them, as well as how to get records through writing to agencies in Ireland and hiring an Irish researcher.

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1. Ancestry.com

The most popular subscription genealogy website on the Internet has a huge collection of Irish genealogy records. These include things like Griffith’s Valuation of Ireland, passenger records for people traveling to the United States from Ireland, and Catholic marriage and birth records.

2. FamilySearch.org

Run by the Jesus Christ Church of Latter-Day Saints (aka the Mormons), this free website has a vast collection of Irish genealogical records. In fact, it has one of the largest collections of genealogical records in the world. Irish records are just a small part of what is available there. These records include Irish wills, probate records, census records from 1821 through 1851 taken every 10 years, marriage records, death records, prison records, and civil registration indexes.

3. AmericanAncestors.org

This subscription website owned by the New England Historic and Genealogical Society has a collection of newspapers called the Search for Missing Friends, where people from Ireland advertised for information on relatives who had immigrated to America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These newspapers are searchable by name to make it easier to discover if someone was looking for your ancestor. The person looking may be a relative of your ancestor, and give you additional clues as to the origins of your Irish family and the people in it.

4. RootsIreland.ie

This subscription website is based in Ireland and has a huge collection of Irish genealogical records. Their site says they have over 20 million records available online. Most of these are records that can be found on other sites, but it is a good site to use in your search, in case a record you need made it onto this site and not another one, or if you want a strong source of records all in one place.

5. IrishGenealogy.ie

This site is run by the Irish government. If you were to go to Ireland and visit their national archives in person, these are the same records you would find there. The Irish government has digitized the records in their archives and made them available on this site It has both civil and church records, as well as military, police, and land records in abundance, with an index for the entire site that is searchable by your ancestor’s name.

Only a few records are still only available in Ireland, such as parish records that are ancient and may still be in churches there. You can hire a researcher in Ireland to look through these for you if you know the town where your ancestors lived. You can also write to the National Archives with questions about your ancestors, though using the IrishGenealogy.ie site is just as good as that, unless you want a certified record of something and not a photocopy. Try all of these wonderful and abundant Irish genealogy resources and discover your Irish ancestors, learn more about their lives, and even take your Irish family back for several more generations.

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