Discover your Irish roots! Trace your Irish ancestors from American shores back to the Emerald Isle. This in-depth guide from Irish genealogy expert Claire Santry will take you step-by-step through the exciting--and challenging--journey of discovering your Irish roots. You'll learn how to identify immigrant ancestor, find your family's county and townland of origin, and locate key genealogical resources that will breathe life into your family tree. With historical timelines, sample records, resource lists, and detailed information about where and how to find your ancestors online, this guide has everything you need to uncover your Irish heritage. In this book, you'll find: • The best online resources for Irish genealogy • Detailed guidance for finding records in the old country, from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland • Helpful background on Irish history, geography, administrative divisions, and naming patterns • Case studies that apply concepts and strategies to real-life research problems Whether your ancestors hail from the bustling streets of Dublin or a small town in County Cork, The Family Tree Irish Genealogy Guide will give you the tools you need to track down your ancestors in Ireland.

"This volume provides an authoritative survey of the material held in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland...[It] provides invaluable information on how to explore Northern Ireland's public and private records, and the material held about its churches, schools, law courts, businesses and individuals. It also explains step by step how to research records of births, marriages, and deaths, as well as directing the reader to other less well-known sources containing valuable genealogical information." --Back cover.

One of the greatest frustrations for generations of genealogical researchers has been that reliable guidance on sources for perhaps the most critical period in the establishment of their family's links with Ulster, the period up to 1800, has proved to be so elusive. Not any more. This book can claim to be the first comprehensive guide for family historians searching for ancestors in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Ulster. Whether their ancestors are of English, Scottish, or Gaelic Irish origin, it will be of enormous value to anyone wishing to conduct research in Ulster prior to 1800. A comprehensive range of sources from the period 1600-1800 are identified and explained in very clear terms. Information on the whereabouts of these records and how they may be accessed is also provided. Equally important, there is guidance on how effectively they might be used. The appendices to the book include a full listing of pre-1800 church records for Ulster; a detailed description of nearly 250 collections of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century estate papers; and a summary breakdown of the sources available from this period for each parish in Ulster.

The second edition of Tracing Your Northern Irish Ancestors is an expert introduction for the family historian to the wealth of material available to researchers in archives throughout Northern Ireland. Many records, like the early twentieth-century census returns and school registers, will be familiar to researchers, but others are often overlooked by all but the most experienced of genealogists. An easy-to-use, informative guide to the comprehensive collections available at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland is a key feature of Ian Maxwells handbook. He also takes the reader through the records held in many libraries, museums and heritage centres across the province, and he provides detailed coverage of records that are available online. Unlike the rest of the British Isles, which has very extensive civil and census records, Irish ancestral research is hampered by the destruction of many of the major collections. Yet Ian Maxwell shows how family historians can make good use of church records, school registers and land and valuation records to trace their roots to the beginning of the nineteenth century and beyond.

Of all the nine counties of Ulster, none can claim a more cosmopolitan and fascinating history than Down. In ancient times it formed part of the ancient kingdom of the Ulaid; the Dal Fiatach, the most important of the groupings of tribes of Ulaid, came to dominate the east of the county with their capital at Downpatrick. Vikings came to raid and then settled along the coast. Later the Normans seized control of the Dal Fiatach kingdom constructing castles, monasteries and abbeys before becoming 'hibernicised'. In the seventeenth century, thousands of Scottish and English settlers poured into Down, establishing themselves in the north and east of the county. Meanwhile the native Irish were able to preserve their way of life in south Down where their close-knit communities were sufficiently well organised under their traditional leaders to co-exist with the newcomers. The distribution of surnames in the couty provides lasting evidence of its complex history. The purpose of this book is to provide a practical guide for the family historian searching for ancestors in County Down. It is true that many records have been lost, including those in the destruction of the Public Record Office in Dublin in 1922. However, much has survived to aid the dedicated family or local historian. Moreover, it has become increasingly accessible in the detailed catalogues and user-friendly searching aids in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Because of the breadth of the material covered, this book will appeal both to the experienced researcher and to the novice. Of particular value are the detailed listings of the records of landed estates, churches and schools, as well as the appendices listing townlands and unofficial place-names for the county.

Part seven of Scots-Irish Link, 1575-1725 attempts to identify some of the Scottish settlers in Ulster during this period (116 p.).

Straddling parts of Counties Antrim and Down, the city of Belfast has seen its fair share of history across the centuries. From its humble beginnings as a ford based settlement between two tributaries of the River Lagan, it grew following its grant of a charter in 1613 to become a corporation town, and expanded dramatically when later made a city in 1888. Along the way it has experienced the darkest of times, including the Belfast Blitz and the recent Troubles, to some of the most enlightened developments across Ireland and the UK. In Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, genealogist and best-selling author Chris Paton returns home to provide a research gateway for those wishing to trace their ancestors from the Northern Irish capital. With a concise summary of the city's history, a tour of some of the city's most amazing archives, libraries and museums, and a detailed overview of the records generated by those who came before, he expertly steers the reader towards centuries of ancestral exploration, both through online resources and within the city of Belfast itself – and with a wee bit of craic along the way!

This accessible, well-organized, easy-to-use beginners guide to the world of family history is essential reading for anyone who wants to find their way into this fascinating subject. In a series of short, practical chapters Simon Fowler takes readers through all the first steps that will reveal the lives of their ancestors and the world they lived in. He looks at every aspect of research, from finding family papers and interviewing relatives, through exploring websites, archives, newspapers and directories, to all the other sources that can throw a light into the past. In a clear, straightforward way he explains how vital records of births, marriages and deaths can be used as the starting point in a sequence of eye-opening family detective work. Simon Fowlers introduction, which is founded on a career of genealogical research and writing, is an indispensable basic book for anyone entering in the field.