Best websites and books

Waitsian

My apologies if there is already a thread on this, but as a follow on from the recent thread about the Limerick records book, I was wondering if anyone could recommend the best Irish books for a research library, and the best general pay to view and free websites.

In terms of books I have John Grenham's 'Tracing your Irish Ancesors' (Third Edition, papaerback) and Ian Maxwell's 'How to trace your Irish Ancestors' (papaerback).

As for websites (and my interest is purely North American, British Isles incl. Ireland, and Australia) I subscribe to Ancestry, RootsIreland, Findmypast, Scotlandspeople, and for free most often use Irishgenealogy.ie, Askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation, familysearch.org, & census.nationalarchives.ie. Could anyone recommend any other sites worth subscribing to, particularly for British and North American records?

Coolnabacky1873

Genealogical Atlas of Ireland (2nd ed) by Brian Mitchell.

The Surnames of Ireland by Edward MacLysaght.

Along with Grenham, that is my holy trinity of go to books. Looking forward to his 4th edition next month.

Waitsian

Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »

Genealogical Atlas of Ireland (2nd ed) by Brian Mitchell.

The Surnames of Ireland by Edward MacLysaght.

Along with Grenham, that is my holy trinity of go to books. Looking forward to his 4th edition next month.

That book by MacLysaght had been recommended to me before, I'll seek it out.

I'll have a look for the other too. Thanks.

Waitsian

Here's a few lists:

http://genealogy.about.com/od/uk_databases/tp/top_databases.htm

http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-websites/


I don't know if this has ever been linked on this forum before, but the following page is very good for beginners, to go along with the sticky on here:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmurphy/epubs/primer.pdf

shanew

Ryan's Irish Records - great for details of parishes and various sources for all counties.

websites for locations, maps, townland etc - SeanRuad, LogAnim and OSI
and for RC parishes IrishTimes/John Grenham


Shane

Waitsian

shanew wrote: »

Ryan's Irish Records - great for details of parishes and various sources for all counties.

websites for locations, maps, townland etc - SeanRuad, LogAnim and OSI
and for RC parishes IrishTimes/John Grenham


Shane

James G. Ryan? This one Shanew?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Irish-Records-Sources-Family-History/dp/0916489760/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1329508905&sr=8-4

shanew

that's the one!

If I'm checking for RC records then my check-list is Ryan's, the NLI Index and the IrishTimes

Ryan's is a little out of date with some of the CofI record locations - the RCB has more of the records now


S.

Coolnabacky1873

For North America some of the other big websites are:
World Vital Records
Genealogybank
Archives.com
American Ancestors
Libraries and Archives Canada

I probably use Genealogybank the most, the rest have a lot of stuff that is available for free elsewhere.

Movaco.com is a great genealogy specific search engine (worldwide)

Fimdmypast have registered a .com address and will be entering the US market later this year. It'll be interesting so see if they use their Irish model over here and focus on lesser known resources

Jaysus, I could go on and on, you might have started a never ending thread!

Waitsian

Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »

For North America some of the other big websites are:
World Vital Records
Genealogybank
Archives.com
American Ancestors
Libraries and Archives Canada

I probably use Genealogybank the most, the rest have a lot of stuff that is available for free elsewhere.

Movaco.com is a great genealogy specific search engine (worldwide)

Fimdmypast have registered a .com address and will be entering the US market later this year. It'll be interesting so see if they use their Irish model over here and focus on lesser known resources

Jaysus, I could go on and on, you might have started a never ending thread!

Thanks mate, these'll do for starters.

Waitsian

shanew wrote: »

that's the one!

If I'm checking for RC records then my check-list is Ryan's, the NLI Index and the IrishTimes

Ryan's is a little out of date with some of the CofI record locations - the RCB has more of the records now

This being the RCB:

http://ireland.anglican.org/about/104

tenterfields

Claire Santry's websites are also worth a visit


http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/
http://irish-genealogy-news.blogspot.com/

pinkypinky

I pretty much agree with everything the others have recommended. I also really like Irish Church Records by Ryan.

Sean Murphy is the UCD lecturer who does the genealogy course I did.

shanew

as well as Familysearch and the pay websites - good free websites for England/Wales include :

http://www.freebmd.org.uk - BMD Index

http://www.freecen.org.uk/ - Census transcripts 1841-1891

there's also lots of county sites with parish record transcripts, referred to as OPCs (OnLine Parish Clerks)

Waitsian

Excellent, I'm glad I started this thread. Thanks all.

Jellybaby1

Does anyone use www.rootsireland,ie? Anyone get much there. It looks a bit pricey to me.

P.S. Just noticed the OP uses it. How did you find it? Don't want to subscribe unless it is worthwhile.

shanew

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Does anyone use www.rootsireland,ie? Anyone get much there. It looks a bit pricey to me.

P.S. Just noticed the OP uses it. How did you find it? Don't want to subscribe unless it is worthwhile.

all depends on which counties, parishes and denominations you are researching... they dont have any records for a number of counties e.g. Kerry, Wexford, Carlow, and Clare, and only have some records for others e.g. Dublin, Cork, Monaghan and Tipperary

If you have good clues - i.e. a good date and parents names, and/or a detailed location then it's worth a go, otherwise it can get expensive very quickly.



Shane

Jellybaby1

Thanks shanew. Sure is an expensive business!

shanew

You can sometimes obtain useful details using the free search on RootsIreland - e.g. if you have parents names from an RC marriage in Dublin City. Some of these include names for both parents, but not always a detailed address, espcially if they lived outside Dublin. The RootsIreland Index can help narrow down a possible parish, which you can then follow up in the NLI, or view a transcript on RootsIreland.

Using the my own gtgt-grandparents marriage Thomas Sheridan and Margaret Dillon in 1877 as an example. The record shows parents for the bride as Guillemi Dillon and Brigidae - i.e. William and Bridget. No maiden surname is shown for the bride's mother in this case, and the parents address is shown simply as 'Co. Wicklow'.

Selecting the basic search on the Wicklow section of RootsIreland shows just one Margaret Dillon in 1854 with father William - and to check if the mother could be Bridget select the advanced search, and enter Bri as the mother's first name - again just one match, so should be the same entry.

Then it's just a case of returning to the basic search and redoing the search for all the available parishes until the result comes back - Hacketstown RC in this case.

With more common combinations of names where there are more results require a few more searches to narrow down possible matches. To allow for variations in names you can enter just initials for the searches - e.g. W for William (or G for the Latin), or MAR for Mary or Margaret or the Latin versions..

I had a clue from the family story, and possible clue from Griffith's that the family lived in a townland named Ballymaghroe which matched this.

Be careful doing this kind of search too often - as they can suspend your membership if you only do free searches and never buy any records.


Shane

Jellybaby1

shanew wrote: »

Be careful doing this kind of search too often - as they can suspend your membership if you only do free searches and never buy any records.


Shane

Thanks for the info and advice, very helpful, but will be searching CoI records, is it any good for those? Hard to believe they'd offer a free service then when you use it, they get all umpty and evict you!

shanew

They are definitely better for RC records e.g. no CofI records for Louth or Monaghan, but have CofI records in a number of counties. Check their sources page for the county you are interested in.

btw the advanced search by mother's maiden surname will not work for CofI baptisms, since these dont usually include this detail.


Shane

Coolnabacky1873

Claire Santry has a good update on WDYTYA LIVE, including big changes that are coming soon to the RootsIreland site.

http://irish-genealogy-news.blogspot.com/

pedroeibar1

Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »

Claire Santry has a good update on WDYTYA LIVE, including big changes that are coming soon to the RootsIreland site.

http://irish-genealogy-news.blogspot.com/

+1, a good blog entry. I like the Scotlands people bujsiness model, hope it works for Rootsireland.

Trove is a great site for transportees and general stuff in Australia and I've found a surprising amount of Irish news on it for the late 1800's period.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/

Waitsian

Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »

Claire Santry has a good update on WDYTYA LIVE, including big changes that are coming soon to the RootsIreland site.

http://irish-genealogy-news.blogspot.com/

"Surviving Irish Petty Sessions Books for the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland include about 15million cases and about 45million name references. The originals are held by the National Archives of Ireland in Dublin. FindMyPast.ie is in the process of digitising this huge resource and released the first tranche of 1.2million records on 23 February 2012. The Irish Petty Sessions collection dates mostly from 1858 to 1924."

That's great news, good to hear.

Waitsian

Most surviving records for the Republic are held by the National Archives of Ireland. This is the source for most of the records that currently appear on this site, and will do in the future. Other records are held privately or by local libraries and we hope to include them as well. The records for Northern Ireland are either held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland or still reside in the court houses. We hope to digitise these too.

CAVAN
BALLINAGH
1852-59, 1873-80, 1883-89

CAVAN
CAVAN
1851-58

CLARE
CRUSHEEN
1873-98, 1909-10

CLARE
ENNIS
1880, 1891-94

CORK
AHADALLANE
1864-65, 1884-1907

CORK
BALLINCOLLIG
1901-04

CORK
CASTLETOWNBERE
1858-1910

CORK
FIRMOUNT
1907-10

CORK
KANTURK
1902-05, 1908-10

DONEGAL
ARDARA
1865-77

DONEGAL
BALLYSHANNON
1872, 1889-1910

DONEGAL
GLENTIES
1852-57

DONEGAL
STRANORLAR
1859-69, 1873-88, 1893-96

GALWAY
ARDRAHAN
1859-69, 1873-88, 1893-96

GALWAY
ATHENRY
1859-69, 1873-88, 1893-96

GALWAY
BALLYMOE
1891-1906

GALWAY
CASTLETOWN
1861-63, 1866-71, 1878-84, 1890-97

GALWAY
WILLIAMSTOWN
1852-91, 1910

KILKENNY
CASTLECOMER
1907-10

KILKENNY
GORESBRIDGE
1854-1905

LEITRIM
CARRICK-ON-SHANNON
1879-1910

MAYO
BALLINROBE
1854-59, 1863-66

MAYO
BALLYGLASS
1875-97, 1909-10

MAYO
BALLYHAUNIS
1872-75

MAYO
BALLYVARY
1851-59

MAYO
CASTLEBAR
1862-65, 1869-81, 1884-86, 1888-89, 1893-95

MAYO
CLAREMORRIS
1881-84

MONAGHAN
BALLYBAY
1871-93

MONAGHAN
CARRICKMACROSS
1909-10

OFFALY
FRANKFORD
1910

OFFALY
MONEYGALL
1901-06

OFFALY
THOMASTOWN
1873-76, 1903-10

ROSCOMMON
ATHLONE
1859, 1890-1900

ROSCOMMON
BALLINTOBBER
1851-52

ROSCOMMON
CASTLEREA
1851-55, 1861-88, 1894-98, 1903-10

SLIGO
BALLYMOTE
1892-98

TIPPERARY
CLONMEL BOROUGH
1874-90

WATERFORD
BALLYMACARBRY
1880-1910

WATERFORD
CLONMEL RURAL
1851-60, 1868-1910

WATERFORD
PORTLAW
1854, 1862, 1874-1904

WESTMEATH
ATHLONE
1900-10

WESTMEATH
BRAWNY, ATHLONE
1851-53

WICKLOW
ARKLOW
1851-75, 1879-1910

WICKLOW
AVOCA
1869-79, 1883-92, 1896-1910

WICKLOW
BRAY
1850-55, 1858-70, 1873-4, 1878-1902

WICKLOW
REDCROSS
1866-69

The remaining records at the National Archives of Ireland will be published later this year.

Waitsian

Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »

Along with Grenham, that is my holy trinity of go to books. Looking forward to his 4th edition next month.

Did you happen to buy the 4th Edition yet? I just got it yesterday; haven't really had a chance to go through it yet. I must have a good look through it later and compare it to the 3rd. I know John himself mentioned more about online information in the new revised edition and it has an index now too.

Anyone else purchased it?

pinkypinky

I have the 3rd edition - kinda feel like buying another would be unnecessary. I'm looking forward to having a thumb through it and hearing what others think.

Coolnabacky1873

mod9maple wrote: »

Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »

Along with Grenham, that is my holy trinity of go to books. Looking forward to his 4th edition next month.

Did you happen to buy the 4th Edition yet?

Anyone else purchased it?

Like pinky I prob won't buy it as I've kept a database of 'new' record releases over the last few years but would definitely be interested in seeing it.

I do like his writing style also, he has a way with words.

Reviews are most welcome!

Waitsian

Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »

Reviews are most welcome!

There you are guys; this writer is much more articulate than I could ever be...

http://irish-genealogy-news.blogspot.com/2012/04/john-grenhams-new-edition-worth-weight.html?spref=fb

Jellybaby1

I had toyed with the idea of getting John Grenham's new book but I think I will wait and see how I get on without it. There is so much information online now. Maybe Santa Clause might bring it for me in December.

Waitsian

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I had toyed with the idea of getting John Grenham's new book but I think I will wait and see how I get on without it. There is so much information online now. Maybe Santa Clause might bring it for me in December.

Listen I've been thinking about this and I want to give my 3rd edition away to a good home. I bought it second hand for a fiver (though as good as new) and it's in great condition. I bought the 4th edition in Newry for £18, which hardly breaks the bank. I regularly give old books and clothes to the SVP but if someone on here with an interest in genealogy (and why would you be here otherwise) wants it, they can have it. Just PM me and we'll arrange for you to get it. I know or suspect most of the regulars have it already but if you're just starting out and want a great book, let me know.

Jellybaby1

Nice offer there mod9maple. I have the third edition myself sitting here beside me so I have to pass. I have to say that I thought this book was going to be my bible but I find I just check it to confirm something rather than looking it up originally. Maybe I'm doing it all wrong and that's why I'm staring at brick walls all over the flippin' place!