Podcast Episode 30: Researching Irish Americans, Part 1
The Ulster Historical Foundation dispels the five biggest myths of Irish research in part 1 of this podcast episode.
What are the five biggest mistakes genealogists make when researching their Irish or Scots-Irish ancestors? Learn from the experts with the Ulster Historical Foundation on common errors and the best research methods, so you can find those elusive Irish PA ancestors.
The Ulster Historical Foundation team and I had a rollicking good time talking about the challenges Americans have doing Irish research. Fintan Mullan, Executive Director of UHF; Gillian Hunt, Research Officer; and William Roulston, Research Director of UHF walk us through what not to do in our genealogy research.
Watch on YouTube
Five Common Misconceptions or Mistakes in Irish Research:
- Irish research is pointless as the records were all destroyed.
- The only records to search are for the period your ancestors were in Ireland.
- The Irish location recorded in American records is definitely correct.
- You can always be sure of the origins of a family because of the surname.
- People never changed religious affiliation.
Be sure to check out the links before the resources mentioned in the episode.
Get ready to take notes and make your research plan for Irish research!
Links
- Ulster Historical Foundation – ancestryireland.com – be sure to check out their research services, record links, and courses.
- Irish Genealogy Essentials Course Online Feb-March 2021
- Beyond 2022 Project – beyond2022.ie
- 1911 and 1901 Ireland Census – census.nationalarchives.ie
- Griffith’s Valuation – askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation
- National Archives of Ireland – genealogy.nationalarchives.ie
- Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) – www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni
- General Register Office, Northern Ireland – www.nidirect.gov.uk/groni
- Historic birth, marriage and death records for Ireland – www.irishgenealogy.ie
- Transcripts of memorials of deeds, conveyances and wills, from the Registry of Deeds, Dublin, 1708–1929 – www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/185720?availability=Family%20History%20Library
- Registry of Deeds online index project – http://irishdeedsindex.net/index.html
- Roman Catholic parish registers, up to 1880 – http://registers.nli.ie/
- PRONI Historical Maps viewer – www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/search-proni-historical-mapsviewer
- Northern Ireland Place Name Project – www.placenamesni.org
- Placenames Database of Ireland – logainm.ie
- The IreAtlas Townland Database – thecore.com/seanruad/
Suggested reading
- John Grenham, Tracing your Irish Ancestors, (5th edition, 2019)
- William J. Roulston, Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors: the essential genealogical guide to early modern Ulster, 1600–1800(2nd edition, 2018)
- Claire Santry, The Family Tree Irish Genealogy Guide
- Chris Paton, Tracing your Irish Family History on the Internet(2nd edition, 2019)
- Edward MacLysaght, The Surnames of Ireland
- Jonathan Bardon, Place names in Ulster (new edition, 2020)
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