Research Advice Websites & Videos
Irish Geneaography was born from both my desire to organise a ever growing list of bookmarks and to recount my own research experiences in order to help others solve vexing Irish people puzzles. Several research advice websites proved invaluable to me when I was getting started and I continue to consult them widely. Most also have their own blogs which I've covered in my Blogs, Magazines and Forums page. Here are some of my favourite recommendations for great advice;
Irish Genealogy Toolkit
This is Claire Santry's free research advice website and it is packed with tips, links, resources and illustrations from her own research. She has also written a book called "The Family Tree Irish Genealogy Guide" and has compiled several versions of a very useful e-book that summarises new record releases. See "New Irish Genealogy Resources 2020" for the latest round up of the last 9 years. Both are available to buy via links on her site.
Claire has also generously shared a number of downloadable forms, charts and outline maps to help you document your research - see under the "Tools and Resources" tab. I really like Claire's writing style and I am sure you will enjoying roaming over her hugely informative website.
This is Claire Santry's free research advice website and it is packed with tips, links, resources and illustrations from her own research. She has also written a book called "The Family Tree Irish Genealogy Guide" and has compiled several versions of a very useful e-book that summarises new record releases. See "New Irish Genealogy Resources 2020" for the latest round up of the last 9 years. Both are available to buy via links on her site.
Claire has also generously shared a number of downloadable forms, charts and outline maps to help you document your research - see under the "Tools and Resources" tab. I really like Claire's writing style and I am sure you will enjoying roaming over her hugely informative website.
Irish Ancestors
This website was originally run by John Grenham under the auspices of the Irish Times but is now a separate entity. Much invaluable information is freely available but there is a limit to the number of daily results pages that you can view for free. There are several subscription options if you can't wait another day to carry on your research.
As you might expect from the author of the definitive guide to researching your Irish ancestors, "Tracing Your Irish Ancestors" (see my Guides and Finding Aids page for more information), the website is full of expert advice. Large tracts of the books along with useful articles are listed. It is also a treasure trove of reference information about surviving records of all descriptions and where to find them. To appreciate just how much information is available, check out the Sitemap.
In particular, there are some quite frankly epic finding aids too in the form of interactive maps and carefully compiled statistics about surname variants.
You will miss out on so much if you don't constantly remember to take this maddening aspect into account when you are searching records. The site is littered with hyperlinks which will take you directly to very specific occurrences in the resources he has plundered to create his finding aids e.g. Irish censuses, Griffith's Valuations etc. So, if you are struggling to find your family, consider searching via his collated surname variants and you might just find that elusive ancestor.
John has also started posting short videos on his John Grenham YouTube Channel. Probably best to start with the guided tour of his website and be sure to pay attention to all the tips and asides he gives out as you will learn a lot. Here are the all the talks I've found and enjoyed so far but I'm sure he will be adding more;
I also came across a longer general talk on researching Irish ancestry that he gave in 2018 in Limerick, which has been posted in 3 parts - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Quite a good introduction by a knowledgeable author and perhaps a good one to watch with your new copy of his book at the ready to leaf through.
This website was originally run by John Grenham under the auspices of the Irish Times but is now a separate entity. Much invaluable information is freely available but there is a limit to the number of daily results pages that you can view for free. There are several subscription options if you can't wait another day to carry on your research.
As you might expect from the author of the definitive guide to researching your Irish ancestors, "Tracing Your Irish Ancestors" (see my Guides and Finding Aids page for more information), the website is full of expert advice. Large tracts of the books along with useful articles are listed. It is also a treasure trove of reference information about surviving records of all descriptions and where to find them. To appreciate just how much information is available, check out the Sitemap.
In particular, there are some quite frankly epic finding aids too in the form of interactive maps and carefully compiled statistics about surname variants.
You will miss out on so much if you don't constantly remember to take this maddening aspect into account when you are searching records. The site is littered with hyperlinks which will take you directly to very specific occurrences in the resources he has plundered to create his finding aids e.g. Irish censuses, Griffith's Valuations etc. So, if you are struggling to find your family, consider searching via his collated surname variants and you might just find that elusive ancestor.
John has also started posting short videos on his John Grenham YouTube Channel. Probably best to start with the guided tour of his website and be sure to pay attention to all the tips and asides he gives out as you will learn a lot. Here are the all the talks I've found and enjoyed so far but I'm sure he will be adding more;
- Welcome to the Site
- How the Site Came to Be
- Is Your Surname Irish?
- Why Can't I Find My Irish Ancestor?
- Why You Still Can't Find Yours
- Tips and Tricks
- The Browse Section
- The 1659 Map and Others
- The Griffiths Maps
- The Civil Births Maps
- The Catholic Baptisms Maps
- The Marriages Map
- The 1901 and 1911 Census Maps
- Historic Newspapers
- Testamentary Records
- Graveyard Records
- The Revolution in Irish Online Research
- Identifying Placenames
- Never Condescend to Your Ancestors
- The Ancestor Report
- Irish Heraldry
- Registry of Deeds
- Quaker Records
- Methodist Church Records
- Roman Catholic Records
- Church of Ireland Records
- Presbyterian Records
- Military Records
- A New Census Research Search Tool
- How to Sweat UK Census Records
- Beware of Databases
- The Story of 1922
I also came across a longer general talk on researching Irish ancestry that he gave in 2018 in Limerick, which has been posted in 3 parts - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Quite a good introduction by a knowledgeable author and perhaps a good one to watch with your new copy of his book at the ready to leaf through.
There are also some other channels worth checking out on YouTube, where you will find helpful how-to-find tutorials as well as specific historical talks.
- PRONI's channel currently has over 300 videos posted. Most obviously relate to the modern Northern Irish counties, but there are also more general videos that are applicable to all Ireland. Be warned though, the broadcast quality of some of them is quite frankly appalling and I had to abandon one on maps because the filming of the projected slides flickered terribly. Another on Presbyterianism by the knowledgeable Dr. William Roulston is packed with detail ... but you're going to have to make a conscious effort not to be distracted by Ethel doing her knitting or Eric enjoying his lunch in the little Zoom windows to the right!
- Both the National Archives of Ireland channel and the National Library of Ireland channel are both a bit light on content and seem to tilt more towards the official work of these institutions, but you may find something of interest.
And Finally...
It seems a shame to tuck away this recommendation at the bottom of this page as it's a really great little talk from Cork Archives - "Genealogy Websites - the Forgotten Features". I've been using the websites featured for years and learned at least 3 or 4 new tricks from this talk, so do enjoy it!
It seems a shame to tuck away this recommendation at the bottom of this page as it's a really great little talk from Cork Archives - "Genealogy Websites - the Forgotten Features". I've been using the websites featured for years and learned at least 3 or 4 new tricks from this talk, so do enjoy it!
(c) Irish Geneaography - 2021
