Genealogy for Beginners

National Heritage Week 2012 talk at Kilrush Library

(in conjunction with Clare County Library (Est. 1931), Clare Roots Society (Est. 2006) and Kilrush & District Historical Society (Est. 2012))

Clare County LibraryClare Roots Society Kilrush & District Historical Society

11:00am

24 Aug 2012

by Paddy Waldron

WWW version: http://www.pwaldron.info/Kilrush/

Outline:

  • Where do I start?
  • Basic free sources
  • Documenting sources
  • Irish administrative divisions and genealogical records
  • Where do I finish?

    • Where do I start?

    Basic free sources

    Google

    Google is great for more unusual names or combinations of names, like "quin sleeman"; but Google, by accident or design, does not harvest many genealogy sites.

    Ireland

    Roughly in reverse chronological order:
    FamilySearch.org --- Irish Civil Registration Indexes 1845-1958
    FamilySearch.org's one-size-fits-all search form can mislead beginners. The indexes don't include spouse or parents, apart from the birth index from c1928-1958, which includes mother's maiden surname only. To narrow the search, you can fill in one of (a) birth date and/or place (b) marriage date and/or place or (c) death date and/or place. The appropriate placename to use is the Poor Law Union (see below). Filling in fields which are blank in the record you want will prevent you from finding it. More details here
    FamilySearch.org --- Ireland Births and Baptisms mostly 1864-1881
    To narrow the search, you can fill in both parents' first and/or last names and/or birth date and/or place. The appropriate placename to use varies from record to record. Try townland or dispensary district or Poor Law Union or county.
    FamilySearch.org --- Ireland Marriages mostly 1845-1870
    To narrow the search, you can fill in spouse's and/or father's first and/or last names and/or marriage date and/or place. Irish marriage certificates did not include the name of either the groom's mother or the bride's mother. The appropriate placename to use is generally the parish.
    FamilySearch.org --- Ireland Deaths mostly 1864-1870
    To narrow the search, you can fill in death date and/or death place and/or residence place. Irish death certificates did not include the name of any relative, unless the informant happened to be a relative, and even then the relationship may not have been specified. If it was, then the relationship may be shown in the transcript. The appropriate placename to use is generally the townland.
    In some non-Irish records the familysearch.org transcriptions may include father's first name, mother's first name and mother's last name, but not father's last name! See, for example, many entries in New Jersey, Marriages, 1678-1985. You must leave the father's last name blank if you want to find these records.
    Clare County Library
    1901 and 1911 Census of Ireland
    Irish Genealogy
    parish records, free for only about 4 counties, mostly pre-1900
    Griffiths Valuation (askaboutireland - free)
    Griffiths Valuation (Irish Origins - subscription)
    Griffiths Valuation (Find My Past - subscription; also includes Landed Estates Court Rentals)
    Griffiths Valuation, printed in 1855 for most of county Clare, is continued up to around the abolition of rates in 1977 in Valuation Office cancelled books, Irish Life Centre, Abbey Street, Dublin; e.g., Moore Street, Kilrush
    Lewis, Samuel: Topographical Dictionary of Ireland 1837
    e.g., Kilrush

    Documenting Sources

    Irish administrative divisions and genealogical records

    Where do I finish?