Irish Genealogy

Finding your Irish ancestors can be a very tricky proposition. For many of us, the quest for this family information is relatively new, and the supporting documentation you need is no longer available. For many Irish families coming to America, this was a huge opportunity to escape the poverty of the Old Country. Newly arrived Irish embraced all things America and weren't necessarily interested in celebrating or preserving those harsh memories of home. Records of the Old World weren't relevant to this new life, so they weren't saved.

However, all is not lost. Interest in genealogy has grown into a huge business in the past few years, with more than a few companies willing to help you find those long lost relatives, often for quite a hefty fee. Happily, though, the genealogical community is also large and willing to help. A recent google search for "Irish genealogy" turned up more than 1.2 million listings, and many of them included resources to help you get started with little or no cost. In fact, as I researched other sites dealing with Ireland, not at all having to do with genealogy, I found most of them had a link to at least one Irish genealogical site.

If you don't know where to start with Irish information, visit http://www.usgenweb.org/ . It's a free site, with information broken down by state, then county. They have birth, marriage, and death information that may help you start working back through the generations.

My favorite site for Irish information is http://www.ancestry.co.uk . It does require a fee for many of the services, but there is some great free stuff. You can also buy a block of searches, rather than paying full fees. If you enter a surname, the page that comes up will show links to listings of other people searching for the name and to a bulletin board. I got lost for an hour or so before I remembered I was supposed to be doing research for this article. Also, don’t miss the family tree tab. You can start your own family tree on the site.

If you want someone to do the search for you, try www.rootsofirish.com . They have fees from $350 to $1,200.

For a good start in the "how to" of searching your genealogy, look at www.irishgenealogical.org . There's quite a bit of information for free, or you can join for $25.

The site listed at www.personal.umich.edu/~cgaunt/irish.html includes listings for a great many links to other genealogy research sites.

The DNA Ancestry Project at www.dnaancestryproject.com  will, for a fee, send you a kit so you can swab inside your cheek to provide your DNA. This participation, they say, will provide deep ancestral origins as well as entering you into their surname project. It isn't cheap, but I think it's very exciting, and am sending for the kit.

You'll have a head start if you know when your family came to America and where they came from in Ireland. Another consideration is what kind of name change may have occurred once your ancestors arrived. If there was an O', Mc, or Mac that was added or omitted, that can affect your search.

The important thing, though, is just to dive in and see what's out there. Talk with all the relatives you can find; if your family is like mine, cousins will have different recollections or new information altogether. Try googling your surname. I found all kinds of leads that way. Be warned, though. This can turn into a time-consuming obsession!