Getting started on your family tree
Introduction
The easiest and quickest way way to discover your roots is to hire a professional genealogist. This is also expensive. In these posts, I will share my family research experiences as an amateur, but enthusiastic, researcher.
A family history search is often a painstaking and frustrating journey. The task is even more difficult in Ireland where so many records have been lost or destroyed over the centuries. The joy of discovering your ancestors and finding out more about their lives cannot be overstated!
Advice for beginners
For complete beginners, I suggest that you gather as much information as possible from older members of the family. Ask them to write down or talk about anything they can remember from the past – relatives, place names, events and family stories. Perhaps, with their agreement, you could record their anecdotes.
It is amazing how many people and incidents can come to light that had previously been forgotten. These memories can suggest where to start your research and will provide vital clues to locations of interest.
As you begin to uncover your ancestors, they will not just be names on a page but living people with lives and characters of their own. I have found this is also an enjoyable experience for an older relative – a jaunt down memory lane with a young companion!
Useful Sources of Information
Now follow the link below to see our growing archive of posts & hints on Tracing Your Family Tree:
Irish Census Records
The census records are one of the most valuable resources for anyone starting to research their family history.
Unfortunately only two complete census for Ireland survive – the 1901 Census taken 31st March 1901 and the 1911 Census taken 2nd April 1911
Using Griffith’s Valuation
Griffith’s Valuation is the primary valuation for Ireland. The valuation was conducted between 1848 – 1864.
It’s worth to Irish genealogists cannot be overestimated.
Irish Civil Records
The process of tracing your family history can be expensive with many websites offering paid subscription-only services.
Sites offering free access are always a good place to start tracing your family. The free online website https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en is a great way to access Irish Civil Records.
Catholic Parish Records Online
In the 1950’s the National Library of Ireland began the work of microfilming Catholic parish registers of births and marriages. The partnership of library and Church hierarchy has ensured the permanent preservation of these invaluable genealogical records. The majority of parishes in the whole of Ireland are covered
Family Wills in Northern Ireland
In tracking Northern Ireland family roots, a useful free website is the Public Records Of Northern Ireland online Wills search – PRONI Wills.
Valuation Revision Books
The Valuation Office Revision Books followed on from Griffiths Valuation and annually recorded the ownership and values of property from 1864 up until the early 1930’s
Street Directories
Street Directories are a useful primary source of information on ancestors as they list householder names and occupations & other statistics.
Newspaper Obituaries
Newspaper Obituaries can be very informative in genealogy detailing where a funeral takes place, the cemetery and surviving family members.
Old Medical Terms
In researching your family tree you are likely to come across some medical terminology that seems odd to modern ears – terms like Apoplexy, Corruption, Gravel, Idiot, Jail Fever and White Swelling seem baffling.
Old Irish Occupations
Historical official records & documents sometimes refer to long-forgotten old Irish occupations.
We list some of the more unusual
FamilySearch
An additional website recommended by one of readers is FamilySearch. The link below will provide access to this free site. (https://www.familysearch.org/en/united-kingdom/)
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4 Comments
David Boyle · 12 December 2023 at 4:11 pm
I am looking for someone to create a family tree for me either hard copy or on line or both. I have all the details but need someone to bring it all to life. Can you recommend someone to help?
David
P&P · 13 December 2023 at 1:53 pm
David, we use Ancestry.com for family research and building the tree but this is subscription based service at around £12 per month. An alternative is https://www.familysearch.org/en/united-kingdom/ which is free and supports some researching (not as comprehensive as Ancestry as its an American website) and a completely free family tree builder. The main selling point of this website is that it is completely free and you can search across all family trees in it. Copy and paste that familysearch web address into your browser to look at the site.
Alternatively, if you just want a template to draw a family tree there are free options online eg Canva offer free templates to store and print your family tree at https://www.canva.com/templates/?query=family-tree – Many of their family tree templates are free but some are “Pro” (ie payment needed). Hover the cursor over the templates to see if Pro appears and avoid these for a free visual. A search on your web browser for “family tree template” will find other options. Good luck.
rodh · 20 October 2023 at 9:02 pm
best place tosart is to use familysearch for free all the records on could want no need to start with a pro
P&P · 21 October 2023 at 1:26 pm
Rodney, thanks for this suggestion. We had looked at this site before but found no useful records on our own families and went on to the other sources mentioned as more useful free tools.
However, given that you have found Familysearch useful, we have added information on it as recommended by our readers. It is now included.