Genealogy Researching your Family Tree. Talk given by Noreen O’Leary September 26 th Rolestown/Oldtown Historical Association

GENEALOGY We all like to know where we came from and the ancestors who shaped our lives today. In order to obtain this information one has to embark on the long trail of looking back into old records, mainly from the Church and State records and, since the introduction of the internet, there are many sites on line that make records available. For those who use the computer it is now possible to research from the comfort of their own homes. Many of you may have started researching your Family History and some of the items that will be discussed will be known to you, but for those of you who have not, genealogy will take you to places unimaginable. You should be warned, however, that when you start on your journey you must do so with an open mind because you will find records, e.g. unwanted pregnancies and babies born out of wedlock etc, which you did not know about, and thought never occurred in the old days. But they did, and just be aware that no matter what you find, you have to understand that you are not responsible for what happened before you were born and therefore cannot be held responsible for what happens when you have gone to your eternal reward.

Records Catholic Church Records These are housed in the National Library, Kildare Street and they can go back many centuries. There is a Church Parish Index in the Library where you can check what Parish you require. In order to access these records you must obtain a Reader’s Ticket. These reader’s tickets can be issued either as a Day Ticket or as a Three Year Ticket. One of the porters will advise as to where you will obtain your ticket.

Anglican Records All Church of Ireland Records are accessed via the Representative Church Body, Bremor Park, Churchtown, Dublin (Tel: ) All of the Church of Ireland records are kept in Churchtown, however, they may also be found in the National Archives, Bishop Street.

Sample of Registration of marriage c1836

State Records Birth, Marriage and Death Records – Irish Life Building, Abbey Street. Civil Registration began in There are also Marriage Records for the Church of Ireland from 1845 held here

Websites This is a site on which the Government is in the process of making Church records available online. At the moment the only counties covered are Dublin City, Carlow, Cork (except Cork City) and Kerry. This is an ongoing project and updates can be obtained regularly from the site. There is also the added advantage that in most cases the actual records can be viewed online and you can print out the Certificate for your records at no charge. This is an invaluable site for those whose roots are embedded in these Counties.

(Dublin North County and Dublin South County are on the IFHF site –(Irish Family History Foundation) These records mainly consist of Church records going back many years. This is now a subscription site – one has to pay to look at the records and if the person sought is found then you can pay for the Certificate of Birth, Death or Marriage. The site covers most of the 32 counties and is an ongoing project but the information often gives you names of family members who are witnesses to marriages or are godparents at christenings. Counties not included on this site are: Carlow, Clare, Kerry, Cork South and Dublin City. There are over 19 million records available for research. (See Map attached for available Counties).

Irish Census On this site you will find the 1901 and 1911 Census which is available free of charge. Once you know the name and street or townland of your ancestor it is easy to find them in the Census Returns. The returns are an invaluable source of information as they will give you more family members, occupations, ages, religion, relationships etc. In the 1911 Census there is added information as to the length of time marriages existed and how many children were born alive and how many are still living.

Irish Poor Law Unions The Archives also contain the Poor Law admissions and discharges (the Union System which started in 1838 and finished in 1942 and housed the poor and destitute of the country particularly during Famine times. These books contain a wealth of information i.e. next of kin, if they had a debility, name of doctor, if they died in the Union etc.etc. Access to these Books has to be made through the Archives Office or online as they are held in the Repository in the Four Courts and have to be applied for to be taken to Bishop Street. They also have the Minutes of the Board of Guardians which give an overall picture of how the Unions were run and who managed the system.

There are the Rebellion papers 1798, 1916 etc. – there is an index of people who took part in various rebellions in the country and they contain a reference number and are available for inspection. Prison records, R.I.C. records, Probate Wills Books, Thom’s Directories etc. can also be viewed in the Archives. A Reader’s Ticket is required which can be obtained at the Archives.

Trades and professions Records are also available for many trades and professions – e.g. Teachers, Bricklayers etc. These can be accessed through the National Archives.

Prison records, R.I.C. records, Probate Wills Books, Thom’s Directories etc. can also be viewed in the Archives.

Newspapers This covers a range of various newspapers in Ireland from the 1700’s to date. This is a fee paying site, the charges being:- 24 hours €10; 48 hours €15; 7 days €25; 1 month €60; 1 year €350. The papers cover a large area of national and international news and if you have someone in your family of note you can access many of their achievements from the newspapers. The records are available to view free of charge at the Dublin City Library, Pearse Street.

This site will cover all things relating to Dublin, however, a visit to The Dublin City Library is to be recommended. If you find a specific article you are looking for you can pay for a copy of the article and print it off immediately. Pearse Street also holds many records for the cemeteries in Dublin and a list is provided on the website. You can also access the Dublin Electoral List (Voters’ Register) for so if you are looking for someone around this time and you have an address for them you will find them here. If an address is not available and you are looking for say, John Smith, all the John Smith’s who live in Dublin will come up and you may be able to locate him and other members of the family. A Reader’s Ticket is required and can be obtained at the Library.

Glasnevin Cemetary Glasnevin Cemetery has placed all the burial records online from 1832 to the present date. If you think any of your relatives are buried in this Cemetery you can access the records and if you know the year your ancestor died then you can look it up and there is a mechanism for purchasing the grave records. These will give you the Grave Number, the date of death and will also show if there are any other people buried in that grave. You can also access the details from the Burial Register from 1832 up to about 1920 which will give you the date of death, cause of death, age, marital status, and who organised the funeral.

Record from Glasnevin Trust

Some more websites (Irish Family History Foundation) MESSAGE BOARDS

This site was set up by the Mormon Church and they have an enormous amount of church and state records going back many centuries. They contain many Census Returns from the USA and other countries. By and large this is a free site, however, in some cases, a fee may have to be paid as they are linked into for some of their records.

Be Aware!!!! One must be careful when researching names as there are many variations in spelling and it is important to access all of these so that you find who you are looking for. In many cases it depended on who was inputting the records at the time –e.g. in my own case my maiden name is spelt EAGER - but in many instances I have found relatives spelt EAGAR, AGAR, EGAR, EAGERS. You can see where you have to cover every variation. The records here go back many years but the Civil Registration is from

Ellis Island. ( If you know of any of your ancestors who emigrated to the States and arrived at New York then you can access their details on this site. The years covered are from 1892 to You will get a full description of the person, who their next-of-kin at home is, to whom they were going and to where they were travelling. You will be able to view the original manifest with all the names for any particular voyage and can also look at the ship they sailed on. This is an excellent site for information on emigrants. Always remember to check the different variations of names as some of them can be mis-spelt. It is also possible to print off Ships’Manifest Lists.

UK and Scotland The National Archives in England have a website They hold many records relative to Ireland and it is worth having a look at this site. If you have relatives that you think have a Scottish origin then have births, marriages and deaths together with Census Returns from 1841 – This is a pay site and there are some limitations on access to actual documents for privacy reasons but the indexes are fully available.

(Commonwealth War Graves Commission ) If you had relatives who had fought in the Great War or World War 11 and were killed in either war then you will be able to access the details of the date of death, the cemetery in which they were buried and also their age, next of kin, Regiment etc. on this site. Again, this is a valuable source of information because in some instances men went to war never to be heard of again. If they had been killed their deaths would be documented through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Finally –Message Boards There are Message Boards attached to some websites: i.e. and Many people leave messages on these sites looking for long lost relatives or who are trying to fill in gaps in their family history. In this area many distant family members can reach one another. It is amazing how many people you will find in your family tree that you never knew existed. They can be all over the world and their ancestors may have emigrated to the U.S.A., Australia or throughout Europe but by leaving a message on the Message Boards connections are made once again.

Putting it all together! When you have as much information as you feel you can handle, how do you put it all together? There are many computer programmes that will walk you through the process, some of which are in the handouts The best one that I found is ‘My Heritage Family Tree Builder’