Irish Genealogy Searches
If you are building your family tree and have Irish ancestors, before you search Irish records you need to determine the county in Ireland where your immigrant ancestors lived.
Find your Immigrant Ancestor
To find your immigrant ancestor, build your family tree starting with yourself. Assuming you live in the U.S., the 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 Online U.S. Census gives birthplace, year of immigration, and naturalization status. Keep tracing backwards until you find your ancestor born in Ireland.
- US Federal Census at Ancestry.com
- US Federal Census at Family Search - the Mormon genealogy site.
If you don't find place of birth in the census, records from your immigrant ancestor's death often include the name of the county / town in Ireland. These include death certificates, cemetery registers, tombstones, church burial records, and obituaries. If your immigrant ancestor's records don't mention place of birth, check his siblings' records.
Naturalization papers may possibly include this information, although earlier naturalization may just have the country without naming the county. Check both the Declaration of Intention and the Petition for Naturalization as they may contain significantly different information.
Some naturalization records can be found Citizenship & Naturalization Records online database at Ancestry.com Other places to look are the court where the naturalization occurred or the National Archives.
Irish Genealogy
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Irish Census Genealogy Searches
Ireland census transcriptions and original images of the surviving census from 1831 to 1911
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Irish Genealogy Searches
Ireland genealogy record transcriptions that includes church records as well as records from archives, old newspaper ads, voter books, and more.
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Irish Passenger List Genealogy Searches
Ireland transcriptions and images of passenger list to various ports including the US. - Irish Genealogy Records Repositories
Search Irish records online by county at the non-profit Irish Family History Foundation Centers. These records include parish registers, civil records, gravestone inscriptions, census records and more.
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Irish Townland Searches
Search for townlands, parishes, and baronies for each Irish county.
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Historical Irish Postcard Collection
Almost 20,000 historical postcards some with photos of places in Ireland. This indexed collection is free from Ancestry.com - Northern Ireland Databases
Early databases specific to the present-day counties of Northern Ireland - Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone.